Welcome to the Show
by missingmontyoum
Summary: When all you've ever wanted to do was be normal, only to have that want increased via kidnapping and experimentation, is a rather hard way to live your life. 5 teens, branded freaks for their unique abilities, will have to find some way out of this torturous facility. Will they be able to escape their labeled name and break free of the place? Who knows?
1. Chapter 1

"Are you sure we are going to be able to handle them?" A rather nervous woman voiced her concern over the current dilemma. Her male companion merely turned to her with a bored look coating his features.

"As I have said before, we have taken special measures for each of the freaks to make sure they don't wreak havoc." The man turned and approached a cell room, with a double mirror; allowing the two to observe the contents of the room. "Observe."

The woman did as he said. Peering into the room, she found a small, thin figure crouched into a ball on the bed. His dark hair was brushed to the side, his skin as pale as death, and his icy-blue gaze stared lazily at nothing in particular.

"Subject 16-5-18-6-5-3-20, name; Charlie Bucket from Baltimore, Maryland, age 18. The lad turned himself in, and gave the bounty to his family-poverty case. If you look closely at his hands, and the tips of his hair and the sides of his face, you will notice iced fused these parts. While his hair is the typical white color, the skin's interaction with the ice has caused extreme cases of frostbite; thus, the blackish-red color you see.

Oddly enough, when the boy turned to face the mirror, a large cloud on ice shards and snowflakes made their way towards the two. The woman jumped back in surprise, unaware that the glass was protected against the unplanned assault.

"Unfortunately, he does not have a good grasp over his abilities; therefore, when he is anxious, this tends to occur. "

The woman was shaken from her lack of this knowledge and eyed the man pointedly as he began walking further down the hallway.

"Our next subject is from Strasbourg, Germany. Subject:7-18-5-5-4-25, name Augustus Gloop, age 19. He inhabits a unique strength, 40X that of a regular human. We found him through exposure reports. He had lifted a school bus off of an injured couple. He does not speak much English, but he is learning."

The woman nearly shrieked when she saw the state of the prisoner's room. It was torn to shambles. The white bricks were pounded to bits and scattered around the room. The German was currently punching the solid steel walls that trapped him. It was to no avail, however, as he only managed to make dents in the steel. His bed was broken to splinters and the dresser was completely obliterated.

"As you can see, he has not taken entrapment in the best manner."

"Is he going to be okay with the other inmates?"

The man turned to look at her. "As long as he does not encase any of them in any form of physical contact-from a handshake to a hug."

The subject took notice of the mirror in the room and roared something in German, before effectively smashing the reflective surface.

She looked warily back at the herculean, and gulped before quickly following the already speed-walking man.

"Our next subject, is well, a rather active one. Subject 22-9-12-5-7-9-18-12. Name: Violet Beagaurde from a detention center in Atlanta, Georgia. Age 17. Pyrokinetic however her flames don't burn nearly as hot as her temper." The man said motioning to the girl inside the cell. She was yelling her frustrations at the locked and barred door. Her green eyes glowed with fury as she threw flame after flame at the unbreakable door.

"She looks like she's going to burn the door down!" The woman cried aghast. The man simply scoffed in reply.

"I'd like to see her try. Eventually she'll run out of energy and huff out. Come now, you need to be acquainted with our other two inmates." The man took off again, not regarding the girl inside the room wheezing from over-exertion before passing out. The woman followed, worried for the poor girl's fate.

"This subject, 13-21-13-2-12-5-18, is one of our most interesting yet. Name: Michael Tevee, age 17, found in Denver, Colorado. Telekinetic and has been known to make quite a mess. We found him through his parents. They reported him for the twelfth time, after he caused a car accident and nearly killed 6 people while injuring 14. He can move objects as large as trains with his thoughts."

The said boy sat in the middle of the room, clutching his head in a fearful manner, mumbling things to himself, anxiously. Objects whirled around him in a tornado of chaos. His brown eyes were wide open and apparent purple bags hung under his eyes.

"Is he okay?" The woman asked, placing a hand on the two-way mirror. The boy looked as he where about to have a breakdown, and she could not imagine what it would be like to be in the room when that happened.

The man seemed confused by her question. "Why would it matter? He's just a freak. They all are." He turned and began to walk away and the woman spared the patient one last pitying glace before following suit.

"Our last patient is well aware of what she is capable of, and she has used it many times within her favor. Subject 19-16-15-9-12-5-4, Name: Veruca Salt, found in Liverpool, England. Age 18. Our last patient, is capable of reading minds, not to mention being able to shift her victim's thoughts to doing as she pleases. We finally caught her when she manipulated her father into nabbing a large sapphire diamond for her. I'd advise you not to get to close to the mirror, you are within her range of control."

The woman observed closely at the girl in the room. The girl was simply sitting on her bed, staring at the two-sided mirror. Her long, curly brown hair hung around her shoulders and her unsettlingly light blue eyes remained fixated on the mirror and the woman took a step closer to the mirror. An insane smile broke out on the girl's face and the woman began to feel trapped inside her own mind. The girl stood up and made her way towards the mirror but before she could make the woman do anything, the man grabbed the woman's shoulder and roughly pulled her back. He mumbled something that the woman was barely able to catch.

"What a bunch of freaks."


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie sighed and shivered. Why was it always so cold? Where ever he went, he couldn't seem to get rid of the chills that ran up and down his spine in some silly race. The ice boy looked down at his hands in grief. The rather disgusting, peeling skin greeted his incredibly sore eyes; definitely not a sight that would heal the aching. He sighed once more, not feeling the wave of fog and shards exit his being.

Why couldn't he just be normal? Why couldn't he ever just be the person that didn't always cause trouble? Was it his fault that he was born this way?

His mind wandered to his family. The only thing that Charlie could feel aside from the painful cold was his family's love. His mother's warm smiles, the way his father stuttered whenever he did something wrong, the kind, shaking voices of his grandparents.

A familiar sensation of frost rolling down his cheeks, he left the frozen tear be. He was doing this for them. So, they would no longer have to worry about the next meal; so they won't have to get sick anymore; so they didn't need to get up in the middle of the night, just to pile blanket upon blanket upon their screaming, freezing child-just wanting his pain to stop. The tear soon had companions and this time Charlie couldn't leave them there. He wiped them away with the sleeve of the brown sweater he was wearing. He offered a small smiled at the sleeve, the ice on his cheeks cracking slightly. His favorite sweater. The one that had kept his warm for the longest time. It certainly was not doing its job, now.

But then again, could anything ever keep him warm? He gave up looking a long time ago.

The pounding never ceased, at least not inside his body. Everything always ached for him. He never knew why. It just did.

So here he was, crumpled and broken in the corner of the room. Not knowing what to do except scream. They took his mom. His mutter, the only one who did not treat him like some beast. They told him that if he did anything out of order, they would hurt her. Who are they? That he did not know, but what he did know was that he hated them. Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate. HATE.

Augustus ran his large, freckled hands through his strawberry blonde hair. He began to rock back and forth on the floor, hoping to calm himself down before he did something bad.

All he wanted to do was help. He couldn't take the screaming anymore, so he helped. Did he really do something to evoke this punishment? All he wanted was to help, and to get his mutter back. The ginger tried his best not to explode but it was hard.

Yes, that was the word. Hard.

Everything that had to do with his mutter was hard. Her painful smiles when his father didn't come home that night were hard. Her wordless lullabies that would only be sung to him when the aching was at its worst were hard. The fact that she was scared of what he could do was hard. The fact that she was scared of him…was hard.

He screamed. The floor around him shattering amongst its center of focus. The walls rang and the ground shook as he continued to scream. The hate was hard.

Violet gasped awake. At first, dreary and confused she looked around. Suddenly, as she realized what she had just been doing, she became much paler and her emerald eyes widened: fear clutching all of her senses like the omnipotent hand of god. In a desperate flurry, the girl began to tear through her room, searching, searching, but not finding. Where is it! She thought, tearing the empty drawers out of the dresser. They didn't even let her keep the one thing that she had. The one thing that she actually needed. She growled in frustration. How was she supposed to get by without it? It was the only thing keeping her from burning the place down!

Hot tears began to muddle her vision. She mustered all of her will power to push them back from which they came. What if she hurt someone again? It's not like she can control it, so what is stopping her? Literally nothing without that damned jacket.

Violet growled at the possibility of failure. She had torn the drawers from the dresser, stripped the bed until she could see the steel panels underneath, and dug through the single cabinet that was, not surprisingly, empty.

Who the fuck did these scientist people think they were? She could burn them to past the point of recognition and here they thought it would be fun to not only take her away, 1 year before she would be transferred to an adult prison, but refuse her the only thing that kept her from destroying everything while she slept.

An overwhelming wave of loneliness rushed upon her and threatened to take her out to the deep-sea equivalent; depression.

No. No. No no no no! No!

Violet refused to let herself fall into such a weak state of mind. She was strong. She had to be!

Because no one would be there for her when she wasn't.

But she was already used to this. So, it didn't seem to matter as much. However, that didn't stop the stupid tears from rolling down her cheeks in a massive tidal wave of emotion and hormones.

The girl sunk down onto her rather uncomfortable bed and squeezed her eyes shut, hoping, no, wishing to be anywhere than where she was now. But that was right, she thought.

Monsters don't get to wish.

His skin was almost as cut up as his mind. Everything only came in the form of fragments. Fragments of violent outbursts. Fragments of broken glass. Fragments of skin and bone. Fragments of what used to be okay.

Mike tried to calm himself down by rocking back and forth; for some reason that makes people feel better. His fingernails dug into his temples. He frantically looked around the empty room for some form of comfort but found nothing. Tearing skin from the sides of his head, he clutched harder.

How was he going to get out of this mess? When he made a mess before, he just needed to apologize and beg to be forgiven because hell knows if he didn't he'd be alone. He didn't want to be left behind, he just wanted to be okay. Why couldn't he be okay?

Was it because his parents ignored him? Was it because they only paid attention to him when he did something bad? Was it because the neglect began to make him feel worthless? Was it because he couldn't do anything right? Why? WHY?

Three bricks broke from the wall and hurled around him in a tornado, one hitting his forearm in one oscillation. Yet, he didn't feel it. All he felt was the madness slowing wrapping its arms around him in a mask of insanity. Why? Why? WHY? He screamed, his eyes glowing a deep purple.

A drawer was ripped out of the dresser and joined in on the spinning fun; but not before effectively knocking Mike to the floor.

Boring.

Boring white walls, boring white floors, boring white sheets, boring everything. What a place! Veruca thought to herself that if she were to be taken away, the people would at least have some decency to put her in a proper bedroom, not what ever this outhouse was. She mumbled in disappointment as she continued to stare at the unframed mirror hanging nest to the boring, barred door.

She was an heiress for goodness sake! People should really treat their betters with more respect. If she were to ever get out of this room, she'll make them learn how to properly welcome some one of her stature. Much like how her father taught her to uphold that stature in public.

Veruca sighed as feelings of loneliness and betrayal began to cloud her evanescence. Her father was the only person she could trust. And he was the one that ratted her out. How could he? All she ever did was ask and he would get it for her. She didn't even have to try that hard to get him to, anyways. Most of the time he got stuff for her to make up for the thinks he was thinking of. Him thinking about cheating on her mother, thinking about pleasuring himself with young girls, thinking about doing whatever is necessary to keep his hands clean of any questionable charges. It was scary to think about, and terrifying to hear every time you walk past him.

Veruca flopped back onto the bed, never easing her gaze on the two-sided mirror. Upset that she was only given the barely twin-size bed that she laid on, she groaned. Something, then, caught the mind-reader's eye. It was underneath her pillow, and it wasn't white so it was bound to be more interesting than the rest of the room. She swung at it from her position on the bed, not wanting to move out of both slivers of fear and sheer laziness. Her French-manicured nails were able to dig into the side of the weird object and Veruca dragged it toward her.

It looked like a straight-jacket. It had buckles connecting the sleeves to the side material. The buckles ran all the way up to the shoulder-making sure of an uncomfortable fate. There was something else that was very odd about it however; there were what looked like scorch marks around the shoulder and the ending hem of the sleeves. How odd, Veruca thought to herself. Then she became angry.

Were they planning on using this on her? What cretins! If her father had heard of this mutiny, he certainly would not have handed her over so easily. Or would he?

At least he tried to make it up to her. By spoiling her to no end for her silence. But that was a different story-and she decided that once she was free she won't let his end well.

Now if she could only push back the clump of depression that had formed in the back of her throat.

The four conscious subjects heard a crackling coming from above them. A speaker crackled and echoed in a robotic voice.

"Begin the experiment."

The bars on the doors began to pull away and the doors popped open with a loud _clunk!_


	3. Chapter 3

**To all my readers…You literally have no idea how much you mean to me. This story was supposed to be a breath of fresh air compared to the depressing mess that was my other story, but considering your comments…Anyways, I'm going to start personally responding to each and every one of you.**

 **Dragonserpent18: Thank you so much for continuing to read my work. I've always kind of worshiped you as the King of CATCF fanfiction and my attitude towards you was like "Senpai notice me, plz." I've always been seen as the creepy, nerd girl where ever I go, and my anxiety and depression issues definitely don't help so having someone that I respect compliment me in such way is causing heart palpitations**

 **WonkaLover05: First off, nice name. Secondly, as I had mentioned before this story was supposed to be a badass superhero AU to get rid of the anger and sadness I caused in my last CATCF story. But, considering your comments, I might just turn it into a hurt and comfort fic. Continue to read my stuff please, you have no idea how much your words mean to me *heart hands***

 **Purplepancakes54: You literally made me cry in my AP Calculus class. I have some really bad self-esteem issues and you calling my work an "amazing piece of literature" just sent those stupid tears running. I understand if you don't want to comment because I am the same way when it comes to writing but I just wanted to let you know that I love you for your compliments and I hope the rest of the story pleases you.**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993: I never have either…But then again, I have been locked up for mental issues so I think its just natural human tendency to shove away what they can't comprehend. I'll try to remember the existence of adventure! But it'll have to be inside because I'm socially awkward! Yeah!**

 **Sonny April: It's nice to see a returned reader. As I had mention before, this story was supposed to make up for the ridiculous depression I left in the last one so I hope you enjoy it. The way you said it was…interesting, makes me nervous that you won't like it so I hope you continue to read**

 **Lonely Hipster666: I relate on a personal level with your name and I cannot tell you how red my face became after reading your comments. I don't think very much of myself or my writing so hearing what you had to say wanted to make me write even more. I have read S-C-P files, my favorite is "The Sculpture." I'm a horror fanatic and I can guarantee you that I can creep almost anything out. Please continue to read and comment because I love you and your comments**

 **Please continue to comment on my story, and I hope you enjoy this chapter**

Should he venture out into the unknown? What could be out there? Images of bloody scalpels and needles, not to mention doctors with insane grins and heartless black eyes, haunted Charlie's thoughts . Whatever was out there, he hoped would be more entertaining than the boorish cell.

Charlie curiously peeked his head outside the door, wondering what horrors awaited him there. Leaning a bit to glance out of the ajar, steel door. A wave of shivers came upon him but they were promptly ignored in favor of what had caused them in the first place.

There was a girl. Just standing outside of her door, her calm, blue eyes darted around the room. How odd, he thought. What was a girl doing in here; sure he had unnatural abilities and he was meant to be here but this girl was completely ordinary looking. What Charlie wasn't aware of was that the girl's gaze isolated him.

"I'll have you know that I am anything but ordinary!" She scoffed, prudently. Charlie's eyes widened. Had he accidentally said it out loud? Usually he was good at keeping his less nice thoughts to himself. His attention was brought back to the girl as she groaned in exasperation.

"No you didn't say it out loud, but you may as well have." With that statement the ice powered boy connected the dots.

"Mind reader," Charlie breathed in awe. There was someone else who was odd like him? Like, he wasn't alone? The girl rolled her eyes hastily and held out her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Charlie." She said quickly, not willing to look at him directly in the eye. Which was possible, he noticed as she was rather tall for a girl-almost as tall as he was! Her angled features were sharp and stunning. Her ash brown hair was thrown lazily over her shoulder and she was wearing some of the fanciest clothes Charlie has ever seen! The girl scoffed again, but Charlie believed he heard a bit of a chuckle in between her sarcasm.

"Since you already know mine, do you mind telling me yours?" He asked with a small smile; not taking the hand she extended. The girl's gaze softened a bit, flashing a quick looksie at the frostbite encasing Charlie's hands. "I'm Veruca," she finally said.

Charlie almost laughed. Wasn't a verruca some kind of mole or wart or something? Veruca glared at him with daggers of steel. However, before she could give him a good lashing a wall of flame appeared to the left of them.

Charlie jumped back, grabbing Veruca's wrist to pull her away as well. The flames seemed to have come out of nowhere! The two stared, wide-eyed at the huge fire wall, unable to move out of shock and fear. The next thing Charlie knew was that he was on the ground with something on top if him. Veruca shrieked.

He opened his eyes to find another girl, sitting on his chest; using one hand to hold his upper body in place and another raised in the air as if to punch him. Charlie's attention was immediately stolen by the girl's face.

Her features were soft, her eyes round but both had a certain edge to them that dared to be messed with. Three scratches and a bruise on her left cheek took away the delicateness of her face. Her eyes glowing a most brilliant green that Charlie would not have believed to be natural. She growled softly.

"Who are you!" She demanded. "What are you doing here?!" Her voice as hard as nails and Charlie couldn't seem to find an answer to her questions because he realized something.

He felt warm.

It felt so good, the warmth that spread over his limbs. Charlie sighed in content. The cold was gone for now and all he could feel was that comforting warmth. He was brought back into reality when that warmth was suddenly gone.

He sat up from his position on the floor, rubbing the back of his head as it had begun to throb. He looked to see the girl that was previously on top of him was being held by the collar of her orange jumpsuit by a very large man. The girl struggled against the giant's grip.

"Put me down, you, asshole!" She squeaked in frustration. Charlie saw a hint of a grin come on to the ginger's face but it had quickly disappeared when the giant saw the girl's arms burst into flames. He dropped her rather roughly to the ground. The flames were extinguished in a grunt of pain.

The large man looked down at what he had been carrying like a rag doll, with surprise in his turquoise eyes. Probably a very similar reaction to how Charlie had reacted to Veruca's mind reading. There was someone out there who was strange like him. Whether it was the fact that he could lifted the girl, even though she was small, with one hand with ease or the crushingly intimidating aura that he gave off; Charlie could tell that this boy had powers as well.

The girl huffed and stood up, indignance gracing her every feature as she looked up at the giant.

"What do you think you're doing!?" She pursed her lips together in an annoyed pout, crossing her arms awaiting an explanation. The taller blushed out of nervousness and stuttered a response in broken English.

"I…not like…bullies. I thought you…bully." He said. His expression turning into a clumsy, apologetic grin.

Charlie glanced back at Veruca to see how she was doing. When he laid eyes on her, a wide smirk rested on her face. He didn't know why she had such an expression but he soon got an answer.

"Things just became a lot more interesting." Veruca gestured to the steaming girl, who was still lecturing the boy. Charlie then took notice to the orange jumpsuit. It was a familiar shade of orange with a variety of solid black letters on the back of it. It was a prison jumpsuit. The shoulders of the jumpsuit were almost completely burned off, black crispy fabric remained on the hem of the sleeves. "I have her straight-jacket…" Veruca continued with a grin. Charlie could see it in her eyes that Veruca was planning on harassing the new girl and he frowned at her. Veruca ignored the frown and continued to stare happily at the conversation-more like her yelling and him apologizing-most likely digging deeper into their subconsciousness.

It wasn't until the girl stopped her rant abruptly that the grin disappeared. The girl, Charlie wished that he knew their names because calling them the girl and the boy was so annoying, held up a hand to stop the conversation and turned her stare on another door. It wasn't open so Charlie believed it to be empty. She looked back to them, seriousness glazing over her soft features.

"Prisons keep captives in groups of five." She said, making her way towards the closed door. At first confused by her knowledge, the three followed her closely. Veruca then gasped in quiet surprise.

"I hear another voice in my head!" She exclaimed breathlessly. The blonde-haired girl looked over her shoulder at Veruca's surprise before rolling her eyes in an 'I-told-you-so-fashion'.

As they approached the door, Charlie became very nervous, it was almost as if the atmosphere became a little thicker. The girl pushed open the door, her motions quick and unafraid. The boy-whose-name-Charlie-didn't-know-yet, looked as if he was cowering behind the much smaller girl. Apparently, Charlie wasn't the only one who could feel it.

The room looked as if it was hit by a hurricane. Random pieces of debris and brick were scattered everywhere; the damage to the room revealed thick, steel walls. In the middle of all the mutiny, lay another boy. This one of smaller stature than the ginger but his spiked, brown hair gave him a few more inches; his limbs long and thin. He lay face up on the ground, his trembling hands clutched to the sides of his head. The boy's eyes were squeezed closed as if to be rid of a great pain, and his expression looked a combination of a scowl and an attempt to read the world's tiniest print.

Veruca rushed into the room and knelt to the boy's side. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. After a moment her blue eyes went wide.

"Get back!" She screamed.

A great crashing noise interrupted her warning half-way through as the new boy's eyes shot open and glowed a brilliant purple. He screamed with multiple voices, tears flowed down his cheeks in a mess of terror.

Before Charlie knew it, he was thrown against the wall, and was kept there by the telekinetic. Veruca was being held two inches above the ground by her hair, pain contorting her features. He could not locate the other two people who had entered the room with them. The boy on the floor continued to scream.

The screaming then stopped rather abruptly, as the glow in the boy's eyes began to fade into a normal shade of brown. Charlie felt relief as if a great weight had been taken off of him as he dropped to the floor, no longer within the hold on the telekinesis. The ginger had picked the boy up off the floor and set him up straight. Fear flashed back and forth between his warm chestnut eyes.

"W-who are you." He asked, his voice cracking slightly, not allowing him to conceal the fact that he was afraid.

Veruca took a step forward. "We're not the people who took you. We are like you and we don't want to hurt you." She said cautiously, holding her hands in the air to indicate her point. The scared boy visibly relaxed, but then hardened again.

"You mean you can move things too?" Veruca chuckled a bit at this statement.

"No, I can hear your thoughts in my mind." The converser's eyes sparkled in awe.

"I'm not alone?! I…am not alone!" He cried joyously. The brown-eyed gaze fell on Charlie. "What can you do? Wait, what's your name first? Wait, that's rude. I haven't told you my name! I'm Mike." Charlie could tell that Mike's nerves were frazzled to hell.

"Um, I'm Charlie and I…um…I can, uh, make ice and snow?" It was hard to explain, it was almost as if his body was generating the cold. Mike's personality completely shifted.

"Huh, that's kind of lame." He turned to the larger one. "What about you? Typical super strength? If people are going to mutate, why can't anyone get anything original?" Augustus shifted uncomfortably under the telekinetic rude questions.

"My n-name is Augustus and ja, I have…the strongness." The gentle giant muttered underneath is breath, semi-afraid of the porcupine in front of him. His reddish-brown eyelashes provided a see-through curtain for his eyes as he became incredibly intrigued by the gray cement. Mike sputtered.

"What kind of a name is Augustus?!" Veruca sent Mike and icy glare, one that could shame Charlie's own. Whatever this kid was it sure wasn't the nice, easily-excited person that began the conversation in the first place. At the least, Charlie thought, he knew everyone's names. A small grin graced his features before disappearing in the exact moment that it came.

Where's the other girl?

A loud shout and the igniting of a gargantuan fireball answered Charlie's question almost directly as it came to his head.

He turned to find the blonde girl encased in her own fire; she held her arm tightly as blood leaked down her limb, dripping from her unmoving fingertips. She scowled, anger overtaking any other emotion that might have been running through her head. The shadows of the flames danced on the ceiling as the hot tendrils licked up her figure and threatened to grasp another in its hellish grip.

"You can at least say you're sorry!" She growled, advancing towards the group. Veruca stood frozen, unable to move perhaps because of the memories of terrible events sprinting in the arsonist's head. Even Mike was surprised by this outburst; Charlie noted, cheekily, that the smirk was off his face. Augustus plied himself in front of the group, not knowing what else to do to protect them from the ever-growing fire. Veruca rested her stare on Charlie, pleading him to do something before the entire building caught fire.

In a quick brain-lapse, the ice-powered teen, leapt out from behind the kind brute and ran into the fire. Once again, the pleasant feeling of warmth overtook him and Charlie became lost in the feeling. Not realizing that he had grabbed the small girl's bare arms, in an attempt to stop and calm her. His efforts forgotten to the overcoming sensation of comfort. He didn't even notice her flames die in an icy grave as they shrank in size and ferocity. He didn't even notice the girl's arm, underneath his hands slowly began to turn a startling blue color. He didn't even notice the girl's gasps for air and whimpers for freedom. All he noticed was the warmth.

A hand on his shoulder ferociously pulled him away from the girl and that was when Charlie became aware of his surroundings. Augustus's hand firmly gripped his shoulder, not looking at Charlie with wide, horrified eyes. Mike remained glued to his spot in the corner, his expression blank but his eyes told of his awe. Veruca next to him, shuffled quickly past Charlie and Charlie followed her with his eyes; turning slightly to see better. And what he saw, shook his very bones.

The girl's limbs were bent at an awkward angle on the floor, her eyes squeezed tightly closed as tremors vibrated her entire body. Every now and then she'd let out a gasp of pain. Her breath came out in foggy clouds. The reason behind all of this torment was the skin on her arms were a frozen blue color. The skin that had been torn from Mike's attack was laced with icicles, stabbing into her open wound.

Veruca plopped on the floor next to her

"Oh, Violet."


	4. Chapter 4

What the hell was that was one of the only thoughts that was Veruca's own at that time. Not to mention it was on many of the other's minds as well.

"S-so cold. Please let me out, it's so cold." Although awake, Violet appeared to not be aware of the people around her. To the others, the mind-reader could tell they thought she was muttering random gibberish due to shock. However, Veruca knew that only the shock was true and it was not random gibberish.

The pyro's eyes, which were now a dull, forest green, were wide, bloodshot veins and dark circles did not do the vision devices any justice. Violet grasped onto the frozen blue patches of skin and ice in a deceivingly feeble attempt to warm them up, and it worked, albeit slowly but it worked. The only bad side was the throbbing pain in her limbs. The blonde-haired girl looked up at Veruca with whale eyes, unsure.

Mike stepped forward and leaned down to Violet's level and gingerly touched the cerulean frostbite. The girl winced at the stabbing sensation that jolted through her body. Despite the heinous feeling of helplessness, Violet stood her ground. The bright color began to shine through her eyes once more as she attempted to stand up. The telekinetic forced her to lie back down, he looked over his shoulder to give the instigator of this, a slight pitiful look of resentment.

Charlie couldn't help but feel the crushing guilt that overwhelmed him in a wave of mass loneliness. Here he had finally found people who were like him, and he ended up singling himself out again by hurting them. Why did he always have to be such a screw-up? Charlie looked, eyes downcast, at the cement floors-warm salt threatening to spill over.

The spikey-haired boy spotted Violet as she rose, shakily, to her feet and tried to pull the spikes of ice in her arm out. She did not look at Charlie, at least she tried to but Charlie felt the cauldrons of emeralds laser holes into his head. At in one point, Charlie and Violet made eye contact and Charlie was surprised to find bouts of fear mixed with her justified anger. The freezing boy became trapped in his self-depreciating mentality.

"It's not your fault. You didn't know." Veruca's voice provided an escape route from his own thoughts. But it could not help him escape the will-crushing guilt that he felt. "Yeah, you did something wrong, but the point is that it is an accident. Guilt is for gratuitous crimes." Charlie knew that she only meant well but it was his business and not hers. Veruca's expression became cold. "I don't mean to make it my business but your thoughts are too loud."

"If she can find blame on me, then I can find blame on me." Charlie said, mostly mindlessly.

Veruca sighed heavily and muttered something about ungratefulness before hurrying off somewhere. Charlie didn't know where; he wasn't a mind-reader.

He was suddenly aware of the giant presence behind him. He turned and looked up to find Augustus's 'I feel sorry for you' face.

"Thank you for stopping me." Charlie mumbled, truly grateful but a bit to sorry for himself to make it sound genuine. The gentle giant offered him a small smile, letting Charlie know that he, himself was sorry for not stopping him earlier. Augustus also put a strong, pudgy hand on Charlie's skeletal shoulder and pushed him towards Violet and Mike.

Traitor.

Violet gave him a pointed look and went back to caring for her wounds while Mike warned him to tread carefully with the look on his face.

"I-uh…I'm sorry." At this Violet's expressed soured even more.

"It was an accident. There is nothing to apologize for." She abruptly said, her words like steel daggers to his heart. She was so guarded, and Charlie wondered the reason why. "I just over reacted." Her green eyes dulled again but quickly regained their fervor as Violet pulled a large icicle from her arm, a few droplets of blood escaped the wound.

"I-I didn't mean to hurt you."

Violet refused to look him directly in the eye. "No one ever does." Her tone harsh and her being tense, she let out a slight growl as Mike took a step forward to help her. "I just need to learn to live with it, don't I?" With that statement, she pivoted on her heel, left arm clutched over the cut on her right, and stormed out of the room.

Charlie sighed at his failure. He really messed up this time; the warmth just felt so good! He forgot about everything else. He sniffled, his nose suddenly becoming runny. For Charlie, it was as if he had been sick his whole life. His nose always runny, his raspy cough could not go away, and goose flesh habituated themselves permanently on his skin. But Charlie felt a different kind of sick. This was the kind of sick that made him agree to come here in the first place. The sick that made him feel like a monstrous freak that would be better locked up.

Veruca hit him. Pretty hard too. It was enough to get him stop though which was what she was aiming for. Charlie landed on his rear end in a thump, the look of surprise comically graces his face.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself, it's not going to help us get out of here, now is it?!"

The look of surprise remained on his face at her blunt statement. Even Mike and Augustus seemed taken aback at the outburst.

"Should not we speak loud about getting out?" Augustus asked, his German accent garbling his words. Veruca turned and gave him a quick glance of acknowledgement and silently told him to be silent.

"If she blames you then she has a stick up her arse! She's done way worse things to hold anything against you! She's been through way worse things to hold anything against you!" This time, Mike responded.

"Have you been digging inside her mind? Have you been digging through our minds?" Mike said, pointing an accusing finger at her. It was rather distressing to think about, a complete stranger ravaging through your deepest darkest secrets, your deepest darkest thoughts, you deepest, darkest moments. It truly was an invasion of one's privacy! Veruca squeezed her eyes closed in pure frustration.

"I don't mean to!" She screamed, the venom two particles away from materializing from thin air. She heaved for breath. "I just hear it in my head! What you're thinking about, what you're afraid of, everything! I can't stop it!"

Augustus stepped into the middle, silencing Veruca by gently putting a hand on her shoulder and lifting her chin slightly with the crook of his thumb. She winced at the force that propelled her chin upwards but listened anyways.

"We have control problem but we just have to live with it?" He asked meekly to the group. Veruca was on the brink of tears, her mouth opened to say something but closed again. Charlie still sat, on the ground, buried in the tension of the room; his mind was a complete blank slate. Mike stepped forward.

"We don't know each other very well and we are already on comfort and angst terms?" He said, his words sarcastic but his tone hopeful and helpless. "Is everyone here just another sap with a huge tragic backstory that they did not deserve?"

Charlie spoke.

"Welcome to the life of a mutant."

A heaviness fell over the group as the phrase sunk in. Veruca stepped away from the super-strong's touch and brushed her skirt down in quick fluid motions.

"You can come in, Violet."

As Veruca implied, Violet was indeed waiting outside of the door; she was waiting for an opportunity to walk in at a less awkward moment. Her bruised and bloodied arms were cared for, the ice patches melting away into exposed muscle and vein. She was in the middle of wrapping her left arm in gauze when she stepped in. Pout of muted anger on her face not of actual fury but annoyance that they were talking about her without her there. Her gaze flickered from each of their faces, before it rested on Veruca. She crossed her arms.

"I don't like being excluded, thank you very much." Veruca only smiled slyly at this and mockingly gestured her to join the circle of feelings. This action was returned with a fiery glare but she walked further into the room as Veruca invited.

The girl spared Charlie a glance, but once again her expression more of annoyance than anger; and for that Charlie was infinitely glad.

"I have an idea." Violet said abruptly. Her eyes, narrowing in concentration, flickered to Veruca as she assumed correctly that the mind reader already knew what to be had. "I think we can get out of here if we find out how we got here. Does anybody remember what happened?

A complete silence fell over the group as they realized that they had no idea how they were taken to this facility. Even if Violet's idea had some meat to it, how were they supposed to find out what they needed if none of them could remember?

"I can dig through the memories."

Veruca's statement did not surprise the group as much as it angered them. The other four prisoners began speaking in protest all at once, each voice fighting to be the dominant one to be heard. Veruca never imagined that other people could see what I was like inside her head all the time but this was pretty much how it was. As the group showed no signs of calming down, Veruca took a deep breath and screamed so high that dogs nearby winced.

Very quickly it became silent as one could only either talk and yell or clutch their ears in pain.

"I won't dig through anything you don't want me too, just the most recent memory of other people, okay?!"

It was silent for a while, and only Veruca could tell whether it was in agreement or fury. Mike was the first to speak.

"Damn. You sure you don't have sonic screaming powers or something?"

 **Dragonserpent19: That's actually really felicitous of you considering the amount of works you have been successful in…it's kind of making me feel like a bad person for not being the same way. I find out some one has read my story, I cry, I flip out, I ask if they liked it, I cling to them like god's green earth so…yeah. I LOVE RWBY even though it is my sister who rights the fanfiction for RWBY and Steven Universe. My favorite character is Lie Rin. What about you?**

 **Sonny April: You have no idea how relieved I am that you don't think my writing is okay, so thank you for clearing that up. Also, I've read your stories and I'd like to comment that I love your mature writing style and cute topics. I do hope that you enjoy the story and keep reading; what is your favorite character so far?**

 **Lonely Hipster666: I made you smile! YAY! I made some one smile! *teardrops* The one time in my life that I made some one smile *satisfied sigh* Okay, back to business, one of my favorite creepypasta stories is "Abandoned by God" or " ". What about you?**

 **WonkaLover05: Thanks for the hugs! Most people don't know that I write the majority of the story while at school in my AP Comparative Government class only because 1. I already have notes and studied the discussed topic and 2. I seem to have a lot of breakdowns around that class time so finding a way to distract myself from my overwhelming anxiety I write so, you guys are literally why I'm still alive 3**

 **THE Guest: I'm so happy that you like my story! I've always been seen as really weird for writing for CATCF but it makes me happy when others acknowledge me as a writer. Also, I do not know whether I am going to put ships in this one…if I were too, what ships would you prefer to see?**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993: I had no intention of making it seem like Charlie had a crush on Violet, just descriptions get so hard to insert sometimes that moments like that just come out but I am not sure whether I want to ship anything, if I were what ship would you prefer?**


	5. Chapter 5

**So you guys I wanted to tell you about something hilarious that happened while I was writing this chapter before you actually read it. So, I have my little sister read everything before I post it just to see her reaction. And she was reading it and I was hanging over her shoulder. Then she slowly began to turn her head up towards me saying in a high-pitched voice. Cheeky Cheeky CHARLIEEE~ And so whenever I see Charlie's name that's it and I'm gone. I also noticed that nobody found the little easter egg that I put in the first chapter. Their subject numbers spell out things…?...So I'm crazy, what's your name? I hope you enjoy this chapter**

The five people sat in the circle of chairs that seemed to cast a silencing curse, as none of them spoke.

Augustus occupied himself by counting the callouses on his hands, his eyes wide and wandering as he mouthed each number in German; one could assume that he was trying to think about anything but the mind-reader wanted him to think about

Mike tapped his foot at a constant pace, his fist providing a pillow for his left cheek as he watched with boredom at the scene before him. Annoyance evident in every huff and every sigh because nothing was getting done.

Charlie meekly sat, hands in his lap, his gaze downcast; he would occasionally look up at the group but would very quickly return his gaze to his tan pockets when another made eye contact. He coughed into the crook of his elbows, bursts of cold air stung his skin.

Violet crossed one leg over the other. The orange fabric pulling taunt at her sides, a rip on her right thigh revealed the milky skin beneath it. Her arms, much like her legs, were crossed in refusal to give in.

Veruca exploded.

"Listen! I need somebody to go first! I can't do all of you at the same time! So, hurry up! The faster this goes, the faster we can be out of here!" Veruca eyes burned holes into Violet as she pressured her to go first. Violet met her glare head on.

The pyro girl had a feeling that Veruca would make her go first, but Violet was prepared to fight her with everything she has. She was aware of the fact that the rich girl had the audacity to be poking around where she shouldn't have been; with that plus the fact that Veruca seemed to project the statement of "I'm better than you" in every possible way made Violet just want to punch her in her makeup covered face. Veruca smirked arrogantly as Violet knew the mind reader could hear what she had been saying.

One could see the sparks flying as the stare-off continued.

"Uh, I! I'll go!" Charlie stood up abruptly, to stop the claws from being unsheathed. He shuffled past Veruca, hoping that she'd follow rather than fight. Charlie hated conflict, especially between girls; it was because when girls fight they end up saying untrue things to each that scar and maim and if that happened then coexistence would be impossible. Like Charlie had hoped, Veruca began to walk after him but not before narrowing her eyes in disapproval at Violet, who sneered with success.

"So just how far back are you planning on going?" The accented boy asked Veruca. He sluggishly took a seat on the cotton hell that was the prison bunk. The British girl looked at him condescendingly; and Charlie could practically see all of the daggers that she was stabbing him with right now.

"Only as far as you let me." She said easing herself into his thoughts, his memories, his mind. Charlie visibly relaxed.

Veruca blinked and she was suddenly in the most atrocious place she could imagine. Poverty! The huge gaps in the wooden paneling that were to serve as wall and the rank smell of spoiled food and mold pointed very clearly to the fact that Charlie was malnourished and mistreated by his situation.

The phantom-mind-version of Veruca turned to examine the room and found herself facing the young, pale face that was a fourteen-year-old Charlie. The ice shards in his hair were much more prominent in this younger version of Charlie. His sunken cheeks exposed his sharp cheekbones and racoon rings around his wide eyes implied a lack of sleep. Young Charlie, if Veruca had to describe it, looked like the poster picture for "You can save a life for as little as 11 cents a day. Donate now to save children like this." Young Charlie walked right through her, slight smile growing on his face. Veruca followed him the two feet he travelled and watched as he bounced in anxious impatience. The oblong wooden handle, creaked annoyingly and the little boy's excitement only seemed to grow.

A gangly man, wrapped in layers of withered and over-used clothing stepped through the door, his long face brandished a warm smile as he opened his arms for his boy to come running in. The younger version of Charlie relished in the physical contact but Veruca noticed that whom she assumed to be his father shiver and tremble. The only thought that came to her at that time was of Charlie's untainted joy to see his father; Veruca immediately fast-forwarded through Charlie's mindscape.

Suddenly she was on a school ground, and from the looks of the nose-picking delinquents it was a public school. She saw an older Charlie, probably about 16 or 17, encased like a rabbit in a circle of wolves.

"Bucket, Bucket, Bucket. We had a deal. I help pay for your lunches and you do my homework. I've been paying but you haven't been doing. Mind telling me why?" A mockingly cautious voice asked. The owner of the voice being a boy, much shorter than this Charlie, had a wide, flat face and the most pig-like nose that Veruca's ever seen. Behind him stood about 7 other people as ugly and stupid as he.

"I-I, I have j-just been really busy with work! P-p-please just give me some t-time to get your homework done, I p-promise I'll get it all done!" Charlie shook furiously, ice began to chip off of his shoulder.

"I didn't want it done later, though. And you knew this, so what do you think I should do Bucket?" The little devil inched closer to him, his fat, wet lips forming a toothy grin. The other buffoons behind him started to fan out and trap Charlie in their circle of drooling despotism. Charlie looked around him in desperation, searching for a way out but to no avail. The bully grabbed Charlie's collar in his fat, grubby fingers; yanking him down to his eye level. "Cause I think you need to learn a thing or two about punctuality." The group chanted as two idiots picked up Charlie, despite his struggling they managed to carry him to their rendezvous of the main office building.

The building by itself was rather tall but the architects just had to add a giant platform that gave the building an extra 20 meters in the air. Charlie's eyes widened significantly and began to struggle even more; knowing exactly what the boys were planning on doing. Veruca knew that all she could do was watch as Charlie was taken to the highest point on the building and left there with no way of getting down; screaming for help because he was afraid of heights. So she didn't do anything until she noticed thick ice began to coat the platform, encasing the entire building before completely shattering. The very explosion of it shook the bullies to their bones; the icy fog rose to reveal Charlie's heaving body-trying to regain his breath despite the clutching hand of anxiety wringing all of the air out of his lungs.

Veruca stood all amazed at Charlie's show, deciding that she did not want to anger Charlie in such a way that the bullies did. She calmly walked over to his body while the idiots that caused this ran off with their tails tucked so far between their legs that one would not be able to tell the difference between it and another important biological body part. The rich girl knelt down to observe Charlie's face, seeing the beginnings of the frost bite on the sides of his face, the face that she knew.

Veruca was then plunged into another memory, this one, much more recent. But Veruca found it very odd that this one did not have any sound-just images.

Images of tall men in blue, slim-fit suits; carrying briefcases the size of a golden retriever. Images of a man with violet eyes offering his vinyl gloved hand out to shake. Images of Charlie, himself, looking down at the briefcase, opened to expose money bundled like fat, green sausages-Images of his family's suffering. Images of him stepping into a large black van with tinted windows. Images of Charlie suddenly getting very scared and trying to get out of the vehicle, ice growing over the seat he was sitting in. Images of the men strangling him, trying to force a mask over his face-pumping him full of drugs that would knock him out and make him forget the entire process or capture.

Veruca woke up, and a few seconds after so did Charlie. Charlie at first was unfocused and hazy, a side effect, Veruca found, of memory searches. Once his eyes were no longer glazed over, Veruca gave him a report.

"The only thing that I found interesting is that man with the purplish eyes. Those aren't natural and I'm wondering if he is the one in charge of this whole operation. Charlie simply nodded his head and then turned to gaze forlornly at the floor. Veruca pulled her arm up to run her chin thoughtfully, her other arm holding her raised elbow. "Do you remember your conversation?"

Charlie looked up at her abruptly, as if he was guilty of something and was trying to hide it. He relaxed a little and answered her question.

"All I remember is that he didn't call me by my name, he just referred to me a the Perfect. Do you t-think that means anything?"

The mind-reader was intrigued with this new information. A strange man who seemed to run the whole operation and named Charlie. Was this man in anyone else's memories?

"Who do you want me to get next?" Charlie asked, taking Veruca out of her thoughts. Lingering thoughts of the mastermind, she opened her mouth to answer. "You want me to get Mike, okay!" He paced quickly out of the room as Veruca glared at his retreating silhouette. Why was he so protective over Violet? Honestly it was frustrating.

But Mike's memories might provide more insight on this man and just how they got here and if they even could escape the dreaded 'here'.

 **Osnil: Holy Crap, I didn't realize how similar the pasts between Veruca and Emma Frost are. I've never really liked Emma Frost though, I always that she was a bit of a bitch and Veruca is supposed to have some development from, as my sister puts it, Bitch Veruca to Big Sister Veruca. Also I am not good with romance, so any romance that I do include will be awkward and based off of actual events so I hope you enjoy my awkwardness! I love you!**

 **Dragonserpent19: I literally live off of stress though because I don't eat, I don't sleep, and I don't relax. But I will do my best to impress my readers because I love you guys who comment and hopefully I will eventually get to the point where I don't need to worry about what people think of me. Thanks for the advice! I also got some help typing up this new chapter because, well, you know…t**

 **Lonely Hipster666: Eyyyyy~ LJ reminds me a bit of Pennywise from IT and I love it, apparently Laughing Jack is my sister's husband so I won't leak anything*attempts to wink, ends up stabbing eye with eyelash* Ahhhhh, anyways-have you made any creepy pasta stories?**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993: So because of the incredible request rate, I might end up incorporating Charlet in this story but a little warning I am the king of awkward romance so any cute moment that happens between those two will probably be something that happened to me in real life so strap in for a roller coaster of awkward adventure!**

 **WonkaLover05: I'm taking Pre-Calc myself and I am in hell. Because I know everything but I get test anxiety reeeal bad so I have like a C. I get so bored as well. Your calculating abilities are truly impressive if you are in AP Calc. Also, I think everything is cool so things like Hot Air Balloon Pilot sound a lot better than International Translator for United Nations…**

 **THE Guest: Oh my god, I love you, you actually changed the name to THE Guest. Oh mah gersh marry me. Okay sorry for making things awkward but I think that is great and you made me laugh even when I was tasting blood in my mouth. I'm debating whether to hint at Charlie and Violet or Mike and Violet because I wanted Mike to be super protective over Violet because he was like that in the movies and Charlie and Violet I think can be cute. So I hope you still like it3 33 3**


	6. Chapter 6

**Did you guys know that Charlie was originally supposed to be African American?**

Mike was not the most compromising of people. Especially when it came to personal matters such as this. Why would anyone want another person, stranger or no, digging around their brain and analyzing their feelings and judging your every thought? He sat stubbornly on the edge of the bed, defending his brain against Veruca's attempts to gain entrance.

"Would you stop being such a wanker and let me into your brain already" Veruca demanded, impatiently as 5 minutes had already passed and they had made no progress.

"I don't know, can you say please?" The telekinetic bit back, the bitterness of his tone drooling of the ledge of every syllable. The mind reader gritted her teeth and curled her tongue against the roof of his mouth. Cynical people, such as Mike and Violet, were the most annoying in Veruca's opinion. Why say something if you don't mean it?

"Listen, I know you want to get out of here just as much as I do. Now, I believe that I have a lead but the only way I'd be able to find out is if you just let me into your damn head!" Mike continued to grimace at a spot on the floor. Veruca sighed with the annoyance of an out-of-date actor. She plonked down on the bed next to Mike.

"How far are you willing to let me go back?" She asked, sincerely. The spiky-haired boy finally turned to look at her; demons running rapid in the whites of his chocolate brown eyes. She cracked her uncaring façade and gave him a small smile. Mike gave in.

"O-one week." He said, his voice hoarse and strained. It was as if he himself was trying not to remember. Veruca placed a hand over his and blinked.

When 2 millionth of a second had passed, she opened her eyes. Veruca found herself in a rather bare room. There were no posters, no furniture, not anything but the horrible brownish-colored carpet and a large TV sitting in the dead center of the room. The sound of muffled screaming attacked Veruca's ears, forcing her to experience something that Mike did on a daily basis.

A plain-looking man and woman kicked open the door, restraining the teenage Mike who was moving jerkily, his limbs trembling so violently that he appeared possessed-which happened to be exactly what his parents believed. The couple dragged the teen into the room and pulled invisible straps from the walls to contain poor Mike. Mike continued to shake and scream in this nervous breakdown, burst of brilliant purple light erupted from the pores of his body. The man, buckled Mike to the wall, tightening the straps around his wrists and neck. The woman pulled out a large, wooden cross and mumbled ridiculous prayers. Begging God to take the demon out of their child.

The man that Veruca assumed to be Mike's father, began flipping through the channels to find Mike's pacifier. After finding a channel, screaming music played into the group's ears.

 _Terrifying, mystifying, why can't anyone see_

 _Brain-defying, so tired of trying, the monster that's inside of me?_

The man fell to his knees, joining his wife in prayer. The glow began to diminish at the sound of the music, and the static sent unseen messages to his brain to calm him. The woman left the room.

 _I can't breathe its killing me_

 _I can't see is just so suffocating_

When the woman returned, Veruca noticed that she was carrying a large, black pitcher with heaving swirls of steam rising from the top. Mike seemed to know what it was for as he struggled more and more the closer she got. And with the Lord's name on her lips she poured the boiling, holy water over the telekinetic.

The shrieking music was drowned out by Mike's screams and the woman's shouting of her prayers. And Veruca couldn't take it anymore. She fast-forwarded through the torture.

The next scene that the mind-jumper saw was what Mike saw. Out of a crack in the door, Mike watched his parents debate over him and his demonic powers.

"We've both seen what he's capable of! He needs the help of the Lord!" The woman cried, clutching her gaudy, beaded shawl to her thin shoulders. "We can't do anything anymore! The priest's suggestion doesn't seem to be working no more." She cried desperately to her husband, who simply shook his head. He ran a bony hand through his receding hair line.

"I don't like the way this place sounds, dear. They could experiment on him…or some such, I don't know. I just have a bad feeling about it." The man hastily said, expressing his concern plainly with the shake in his voice.

To Veruca it seemed like the door frame made a choking noise.

A velvety voice cut through the tension.

"You have no reason to worry!" The cake-like voice responded, smoothly. Veruca could see a long-fingered glove grip Mike's father's shoulder. A strong feeling of anger boiled up in Veruca and something in the room behind her crashed to the floor. It did not appear that the other group of people noticed this, however as the conversation continued. "It is 100% assured that the…" he cleared his throat. "Patient will be safe." The parents seemed at ease, perhaps not because of the words but because of the voice singing them. It was so sickeningly sweet that Veruca felt that shoving red velvet cake in her ears would not give her the same feeling that reached the pit of the stomach. The owner of the voice came into view and when it did, it stared directly at the crack in the door. The intense purple eyes appeared to glare at the presence it was aware of in the door. Veruca was unable to see the details of their face, for it was shadowed by a tall, magenta top hat. The only discernable feature were the eyes.

"Come on out, Mike." The father said, taking notice of the man's line of sight.

Veruca point of view changed as Mike stepped out from behind her and approached the adults. His mussed hair flopped lazily against his face. The bags under his eyes thicker in color and shape. His pupils dilated, making the hazel color of his eyes appear more murky.

"Who are you?" He asked, venom implicit in his tone. The stranger didn't seem to acknowledge him however, as the stranger continued to address his parents and not him.

"Wow! I don't know how I'm going to be able to hear him at all! I believe I'm going to call him the Mumbler! He said, faux-enthusiasm lacing his tone like the lace on a Lolita dress.

"I have a name." Mike stated, plainly, anger growing. His fists balled at the ends of his red sleeves. He may have not known who this man was but he could tell that he didn't like him. The man still didn't comply to accept the boy's presence.

"Well you know what the Romans say," the strange man began, preparing to make his exit. "Parting is such sweet sorrow. Tomorrow, I guarantee that no harm will come to your…" another clearing of the throat. "…son…" With that the stranger bowed and made his dramatic exit, sucking Veruca out of Mike's mind.

When Veruca finally came to, Mike was standing above her. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, his expression unchanged.

"Yeah, I got a lot going on." He said, in the plainest way possible; making even the stone wall around Veruca's heart crumble a bit to let the words take a stab. She pulled him down onto the floor with her, as she became aware that she truly was on the floor. The surprise on his face was almost humorous if Veruca wasn't concentrated on healing the broken mind before her. Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck as she breathed heavily-trying to form words of comfort but finding that she was not able to. Mike, after a while, chuckled and released himself from the hug and stood up.

"Who do you want, now?"

 **Me: *crying* why am I such a terrible person?**

 **Dragonserpent18: Thanks bro! It means a lot coming from someone who seems to specialize in mystery and suspense**

 **Sonny April: Oh my goodness, I am so sorry. *hands you gun* shoot me if you want, I am a terrible person. Why would I do that! Ugh, I'm so stupid! I'm so sorry. If it makes you feel any better I suffered a lot when writing this chapter. I had to keep stopping so I didn't get snot and tears all over my computer. I haven't seen the new movie but I've read the book and seen the old one and I was annoyed with that scene of the girl throwing up what looked like blood. THAT WASN"T IT. It was Cujo! Honestly!**

 **LonelyHipster666: I wrote one a while ago, I called her 'God's Only Mistake" and its pretty creepy**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1995: I think this chapter answered your question, each story is going to get its own chapter. Some will be revealed in different ways, however…**

 **WillyIsBadAtHugs: Oh my gosh that comment about "Welcome to my prison for gifted youngsters" made me CRY. That was fantastic, I would give you a hug…but…hmm.**

 **WonkaLover05: Yeah, I'm taking Model United Nations and AP Comparative Government right now, and I'm starting to feel like I'm not good enough for it…but, I'm still going to try. Btw who is your favorite character in this story so far?**

 **THEGuest: I will serious send you a ring through the mail but I would never ask you to disclose you address to me, so take this digital one *Diamond ring the size of a Mario block* Haha! Author powers are great!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Interesting fact for the day: Julia Winter, the actor for Veruca in the 2005 movie, when asked, revealed that she actually liked Violet's character the best and felt sorry for her**

It was no surprise with the apologetic look on Mike's face that Veruca had chosen Violet to go next. His brows tilted upward, and his arms extended as if to proclaim that there was nothing he could do. Violet looked at him, the fire that normally grew on her arms burned inside her eyes like acid. She knew that she'd have to go eventually but doing it by sending the person before was not the proper way of going about it.

She remained steadfast, arms crossed stiffly and her nose in the air as Mike approached her. He stopped about two inches away from her. Their bodies were rather close and Violet could almost feel all of the anxiety coming off of him. Her stance softened a bit. Maybe she shouldn't give Mike a hard time, even it was more towards Veruca. She regained her stiff posture as he spoke.

"She wants you." He said, rolling his shoulders back, prepared for the argument. The determined look in his chocolate brown eyes brought her fight back. She huffed in indignance and smirked up at him.

"She can come and get me, herself. She has feet." She paused. "And a mouth. A big one." Mike scoffed and smiled a bit at her reply, grateful for the bit of light-heartedness that the girl before him offered.

"So do you. But that doesn't change anything. You still need to go." Mike said smiling warmly. Violet stood up from her perch to look up at Mike with that sharp gaze that could cut through steel.

"Like I said, I'm only going if she comes and gets me herself." She turned and walked away from Mike and he was finally able to breathe properly.

Charlie interjected from a couch across from them. "Violet." He warned. His slow, comforting tone transformed into a motherly one. Mike could barely keep in a chuckle at that thought. Violet simply glanced at him from over her shoulder before continuing to an area that was presumed to be the kitchen. Mike noticed Charlie's heavy sigh as the stubborn girl didn't listen to him. He could see in between the flecks of snow that Charlie cared about what Violet did and did not do. Before Mike could even open his mouth to tease Charlie, a loud noise erupted from the kitchen.

The two boys looked up to see an exasperated Augustus sheepishly standing over an unconscious Violet. Charlie immediately leapt up to check to see if she was okay while Mike couldn't contain his laughter. It was obvious what had happened. Augustus punched her out! It was kind of funny to think of the small girl and the large oaf fighting as all he would need to do is hit her on the head and then the mortal combat theme would play with the giant red letters K.O. overhead. The telekinetic wheezed.

Charlie stood back up and silently demanded that Augustus pick her up from the ground because he could not do that bit himself. Augustus did, his actions quick and nervous. As if he didn't mean to do it. Whether it was on purpose or not it was still freaking hilarious.

"What did you do?" Charlie asked, his tone once again implied a parent who is angry at their child for drawing on the walls. Augustus held the girl with extended arms and open palms, to be carful as to not harm her further.

"I had just wanted a pat on her head and I was rough too much I think! It is accident!" Augustus cried, like a scolded child with a German accent. Charlie looked up, confused at the gentle giant.

"Why would you try that if you know how strong you are?" The ice-man asked, his voice clipped.

"I thought that I was gentle I could. Friends pat on head, ja? I want friend so I patted." He replied, squeezing his eyes closed to express his regret and passion. Guilt was eating him, Mike could see from where he was standing so he decided to cut in.

"It might be easier to take her to Veruca like this, and you, know." Mike said, casually looking up at the both of them, his hands shoved in his pockets. "Resistance is futile."

Veruca, as Mike expected, was happy to receive Violet unconscious. She didn't want to know how it happened she was just relived to find the feisty pyro not awake and not able to fight her probes. She gave a nod of gratitude to Mike before promptly pushing him out of the room. This is what she's been waiting for and Veruca could tell that Mike wanted to express his own protective, macho man persona over Violet again. Boys.

Veruca gently eased down onto the bed next to the pillow that Violet lay on. She took notice of how child-like she looked as she slept. She was quiet and innocent looking, curling herself inward to protect herself from the nightmare she was about to re-experience. Veruca plunged herself into the memories.

The first thing that Veruca saw when she opened her eyes again was a forest. It was dark outside but she could make out the tall silhouettes that outlined the trees. The sharp smell of pine sap and fresh dirt greeted her nostrils. To be honest, despite saying that she hates nature, Veruca found this scene a literal breath of fresh air from the horror of the other two memories and the asylum itself.

That was until the forest caught on fire.

The first though that rushed through Veruca's mind was 'damn it Violet couldn't you just not ruin this one thing'? That thought was quickly erased by the sound of child's screaming. It was ear-piercing and so ridden with pain and terror that Veruca was overwhelmed with feelings of guilt and over-protectiveness. It wasn't until the fire had begun to blaze with much more fervor and spirit that the mind reader was able to see the source of the screams.

A small child, covered in red, came running, more like stumbling out of the woods. The girl's face was so contorted with grief that Veruca could make out lapses in the red because of tear tracks. She came running right at her. Her choppy hair was matted and clumps of the deep red concealed the girls true hair color but Veruca knew who she was.

As the girl passed Veruca, the mind reader could make out mumbles.

"Daddy's gone and Mommy's mad. Daddy's gone and Mommy's sad. Daddy and Mommy are gone." The small girl repeated under her breath, as she heaved for fresh air and the sound of police sirens refused to grant her that wish.

It was the first time that Veruca had ever been forced out of a memory but sure enough, here she was. Out of the memory, and she didn't know whether to feel grateful to not have to see anymore of the horrific scene or insulted that she was overpowered. With a humph and a quick dusting of the tears from her eyes, Veruca continued.

She was in a cell block, one made completely of cement and had ominous looking chains hanging from the wall with the prison bunk and prison toilet right next to it. Veruca saw Violet in the corner of the cell block, her blonde hair was long and ratty, like it hasn't been brushed in a while. Her dead-eyed gaze remained on the corner of the wall as she hugged her knees to her chest and waited for the torture to begin. A tubby man with a sweaty, pale face came bursting into the room.

"Yo, freak, since the district felt bad that we didn't have any councilors for you, because you know, have tits and no one else does. I'm here to escort you," he looked her up and down as she stood up to face him. She couldn't be any older than 12 years old. Her figure just beginning to bud and was adamant in the too-tight prison uniform meant for boys. He licked his disgustingly chapped lips. "to her." The creepy man finished rather lamely. The girl walked right past him, not without lighting the man's rear end on fire. Veruca willed her on with the silent fervor of a mute at a cricket game. She followed ghostly out of the room only to struggle to keep up with Violet's speed-walking towards the office all the way at the end of the hall.

She knew exactly where she was going and Veruca could feel the little swirls of fear in her subconscious that prevented her from thinking rationally about what happened next.

A boy with greasy brown hair and an incredibly acne-ridden face stuck his long, skinny ankle out to trip Violet half way from her destination. To say that he did not know what he was getting into was the understatement of the millennium.

"Little murderer can't keep her horrible, little head off the ground, can she? While you're down there do you mind cleaning that blood off of my shoe, I hear you like the taste of it."

She exploded. Her flames incinerating the person who had tripped her and anyone else within the five-foot radius. Even as a memory-rooming spirit, Veruca could feel the intensity of the heat that Violet gave off with her flames. Her eyes turned white as she growled carnally. Five burly men with hoses then came out of the walls and blasted the girl into another wall with enough pressure to suffocate her flames and cause black bruises to form on her abdomen and back. She lay on the ground, looking like a drowned rat, gasping for breath and being shoved into the straight jacket and cuffed up to her elbows. Veruca couldn't do anything but watch with surprise at this point. The men threw her around like a rag doll, trying to decide who to be the one to deal with her this time, until a sharp voice cut through the abuse.

"I believe I can handle this, boys." The voice said in a sultry manner that made Veruca cringe at how flirty and out of place it sounded in the situation.

The owner of the voice towered over both Violet and herself, Veruca noticed. Her dirty blonde hair was styled into a gel-infused, stiff bob. Her plastic smile and make-up smeared face appeared to be that out of a horror movie and Veruca thought that she could wipe the woman's face away with one hearty smack (that was how much make up she was wearing). What was most disturbing about the woman, however, is that she was dressed in the same exact, obnoxious orange as Violet was. It was almost as if she meant to look like her. Veruca didn't know why, but it made her more wary of the woman.

The officers, one by one, rolled their eyes and the one holding Violet stiffly by the waist threw her down, her chin grazing the rough floor. Smoke erupted from the straight-jacket and the woman laughed.

"Such a spirited one, isn't she? I'll turn her into the perfect prisoner, not to worry boys." She said, dismissing them with a wave of her hand.

After the men left, Violet attempted to get up from the ground, but a stiletto in the small of her back prevented her from standing. She winced as the heel dug into her back through the jacket but fought anyways. She squirmed underneath the shoe, trying to flip onto her stomach so she can grab the ankle and twist it. Before the incarcerated girl could even manage to turn halfway over, the woman yanked her up with a fistful of hair. Violet bit her tongue once again to contain a grunt of pain.

She didn't want to let the woman know that she was hurting her.

She didn't want to let anyone know that they were hurting her.

The women leaned down to whisper menacingly into Violet's ear.

"You can call me mother." She said before letting Violet drop to the ground and hit her jaw on the cement floor.

Another small hurricane of anger twisted Veruca's insides as before she knew it, she was forced out of the memory again. Veruca made a high-pitch noise in the back of her throat to prevent atrocities from spewing out of her mouth like water from a faucet.

She was in the prison call room. She recognized the tall, clear booths and large, black phones that connected the two booths from movies. What was knew to her however, was the handle on the window that allowed a prisoner to be rid of the barrier to kiss their mum on the cheek. She witnessed this with surprise. Huh, who knew that officers of a youth detention center could be civil towards the delinquents.

The mind-reader's focus immediately pinpointed its target as Violet entered the room with the straight jacket tied up to her upper arms. Her hair was chopped shorter but neat and brushed. Even her prison uniform seemed to fit her better as the uniform had some adjustments for her appendages. What wasn't nice and neat about her appearance, however, was her face.

One of her eyes was swollen shut, purplish, red coloring made it look as if she was using a prune as an eyepatch. Violet had littered bruises all over her face, smaller ones adorned her forehead while large greenish-blue ones lingered on her nose, her right cheek and her lip. Veruca thought that she saw blood oozing out of a cut on her cheek and a small gash in the side of her head that has yet to be treated. Veruca felt a twang of her frozen heart-string at this sight.

Strong, but broken in so many ways.

She sat down in one of the clear booths, one of the officers unhooking her from the crazy-person-position. She faced the man with the velvet voice. Veruca shivered.

Violet picked up the phone, as did the man on the other side. She looked distrusting at the man as she has never met him before and here he was visiting her.

"Who are you." Was her immediate demand for him. He didn't answer her question. He regarded her with the demeanor of a scientists observing a testing rat. Violet took notice of this right away. She wasn't happy about it. "Answer my question." She demanded.

Veruca realized that she could see the man so much better in the too bright lighting of the prison house. He was chalky pale, with a wide, angular face that looked like that of one you'd find in a Covergirl magazine. The creepy man's chocolate brown hair was styled in a pageboy haircut, making him appear rather childish. His intense purple eyes bored holes into their targets.

"Subject is apprehensive and rather ugly. I can not tell which part is their face and which part is wound." He said into a tape recorder, peeling off his forest vinyl gloves. He then slid on a pair of white elbow gloves and roll down the window between them. Violet's temper began to act up. She pounded an over-sleeved hand on the table and growled. By the time she did this, the window was rolled down and the man reached to poke her porcelain cheek. Her large green eyes became larger as a bluish color spread across the area that he touched. It hurt her, Veruca could see unshed tears sparkle in her eyes and her face stiffen with pain. It was cold, she deduced. The man laughed and addressed the person in front of him for the first time. "You would look good as a blueberry!" He exclaimed. Despite the numbing pain in her cheek, Violet still fought back with all of her might. She grabbed the man by his collar.

"What did you do?!" She seethed angrily through her teeth. Men came out to restrain Violet again as she continued to interrogate the man. "What do you want?! Tell me, you bastard! She yelled to him as she was being locked up again and lead away. Her questions would remain forever unanswered.

Veruca noticed the man mumble something.

"The subject touched me, how vile!"

This time, Veruca felt hazy when she woke up. Normally she'd be perfectly fine escaping the memories of the past, because it wasn't that big of a deal. But this time, with all of the rekindling emotions within both girls, Veruca was feeling the aftershock. And she thought that she had it bad.

When Violet woke up, her mind was cloudy and her eyes glazed over. That did not stop tears from welling up in her dulled eyes. It was as if she couldn't see anything but the resurfaced memories. Eventually, the life returned to her eyes. And so did her anger.

"What the hell!" She yelled, having would thrown her arms in the air if she didn't feel so weak. "What happened? Why did you get it out of me so easy?!" She proclaimed, her voice trembling. She apparently did not remember her incident with Augustus.

"You were unconscious." Veruca replied coolly, standing up from the bed and to the door. She crossed her arms and tried not to show all of the pity and guilt that she wore in her heart. A silence between the two made the room colder. Veruca tried to reach out. "It wasn't your fault." She stated firmly, knowing from the beginning that Violet believed that she deserved the treatment she received because of what happened when she was eight. All of the feelings of self-hate and guilt swirled around Veruca's head like an oncoming thunder storm. Violet scoffed.

"Let me guess. I shouldn't have been through any of the shit that I've been through because I have it hard enough already. And then we are going to hug like the two saps we really are." Violet defended with sarcasm, a painful clench erupted in her chest and she stuttered. " H-hell, I've already accepted, life is what is hard to cope with. "

She rushed out of the room as warm tears spilled.

 **Sonny April: Hmm, I guess you're right about that scene in It. I overreact ALL the time especially when it comes to movies and books and such. It's been a while since I've seen a horror movie because of the no internet thing and Mormon parent. And yeah, I could not stop crying when I was writing Mike's chapter. Can you imagine this really scary looking person with giant bags under their eyes and black eyeshadow and eyeliner getting smudged because they are crying in Physics class? Yeah, that's me.**

 **WonkaLover05: Mike seems to be a fan favorite in general, and I love writing his personality because its bipolar tendencies are so unique that it is borderline eccentric and ITS FUN! I'm not a huge fan of Miruca mostly because I believe that Veruca's a bitch and needs to take a chill pill or something, smoke some weed for all I care, JUST RELAX! Geez…heheh, stupid seniors who think their better than everyone else, serves them right! Keep up the great work!**

 **WillyIsBadAtHugs: Wow, I never really thought about pinning Wonka with powers but it might be an interesting development considering Wonka's sense of superiority over the mutants he believes to be inferior but it could just turn into insecurity and prejudice against him that lead to Psychological Denial. Hmm…Its funny that you ask me not to make you hate Willy but I have a sister who previews all of my chapters who hated him from Mike's chapter and it has only grown**


	8. Chapter 8

**How are you guys liking the story so far? I mean, I've been getting less and less comments and its starting to worry me that I'm overworking myself for something nobody even likes any more. I really don't care if it the comment is a different language or anything, that is what google translate is for right? I also speak 4 languages so go ahead! Please, I just need some sort of motivation to write. Okay, I'm sorry, just enjoy if you are still even reading**

Charlie didn't know how he was hooked into this situation and he certainly didn't know what to do in this situation.

A girl was crying. Scratch that. Violet was crying. And that is scary.

He stood stiffly in front of a closed stall door. The facility they were in provided the basic needs for them, such as a kitchen and bathroom, clothing was even provided for those who did not have it. He looked around the tiled room before fixating his gaze on the single stall in front of him. He remembered how she came out of the room, choking on the sobs that she refused to let escape. Her face scrunched up in a mixture of physical and emotional pain. Charlie noticed that there was a trailing river of blood creeping out of a cut on her lip. He figured that she bit herself to contain her emotions, and speed-walked off to help her. He followed the girl into the stall as she promptly slammed the thick door in his face. For some reason that Charlie did not know, he felt as if he needed to be there for Violet.

Charlie could hear her heavy breathing become more fraught with labor and depression. The frost boy noticed from the glimpse of leg he got from the bottom of the stall, that the floor was melting around her. Goopy black messes dribbled away from their place on the floor, much like the tears on Violet's face. He didn't know what to do, but he certainly did not want to do nothing. He brushed a finger-tip over the tile floor, sending shooting ice in the direction of the gloppy ground.

Meanwhile, Violet on the inside of the stall, sat with her knees knocking and arms crossed over her chest to protect herself from an invisible enemy. She hung her head, her blonde hair spilling from behind her ears as tears dripped off the end of her nose. The incarcerated girl was trembling violently and the remembrance of her self-loathing and mistakes ran wildly through her nervous system. It wasn't until she felt a burst of extreme cold over her ankles that she was able to see what was in front of her. The floor was frozen over, but shifting. Images danced before Violet's eyes. A ballerina twirled her way, pirouetting and plie-ing around her in elegant circles. A dog wagged its tail enthusiastically and ran up to Violet and two-dimensionally licked her foot. Roses spun little circles into each other before forming geometric mandala, with a large violet flower in the middle. She touched the ground with her own fingertip. The images disappeared, the warmth of her fire melting them accidentally. Her fingers turned a blue from the cold sensation. More tears cascaded down her face, and she squeezed her eyes closed, hating herself for all the things that she had destroyed.

She held her fingertips closely to her chest to warm them, and the images returned. This time it was a picture of that Charlie-boy smiling comfortingly. It clicked inside her head that it was Charlie who was making the images. It also came to her that he must be outside the stall, hearing just how pathetic she really was. She aggressively wiped her face with the backs of her hands. Once her face was scrubbed red and tears stopped coming, granted the tear tracks were still there. She opened the door, her chest puffed up and a set-in-stone pout greeted Charlie.

Charlie couldn't help but smile at Violet's tough girl act, and he felt an overwhelming urge to pull her in his arms and tell her that it was going to be okay. To tell her that he was there for her, and that whatever she needed, he could provide. If only he could touch her.

"Thanks." Violet said bluntly. She was referring to his icy images of comfort. It really did help, for that Charlie was glad. He briefly wondered if he should ask her what she was upset about but quickly shook the idea as he did not want to upset her any further. She paced past him rather quickly. He laughed. She was so awkward.

"I guess you're the last one," Mike said to the looming giant. Augustus shuffled nervously, leaning on one foot then the other.

He had heard what the memory process had been like. He wasn't looking forward to it.

When Violet had gone in for hers, Augustus asked the ice-powered teen about what it was like. A mysterious glint shimmered in the meeker one's eyes for half of a second before he looked downcast again.

"Uh, well…it's kind of like reliving every bad thing that has ever happened to you. All of the pain that you felt at that moment, all of the emotion, all of the inner suffering that happened is felt all over again." Charlie said, lamentingly. Granted, Augustus could only assume what Charlie had been through to know everything he just cited on such a personal level.

He turned to Mike hoping for some sign that it wasn't as bad as it sounded. However, the slightest shake of the porcupine's head and refusal to look him in the eye informed Augustus of the fate to come. The nervousness turned into a physical lump in his stomach, which Augustus remarked with resentment as he believed that his stomach was lumpy enough.

The lump grew when Violet came bursting with depression out of the room, large tears glimmering translucently in her eyes, making them look like glowing green crystals. It would have been pretty if Augustus didn't consider the cause of the tears or the fact that her face was flushed and scrunched up. All of her sorrow came radiating off of her in great waves of anxiety, that just seeing her on that level of pain from the simple session made his toes curl.

The small girl raced passed them and Charlie followed like a guilty puppy dog. Mike followed the two with his melancholy gaze, wishing to be able to do something but knowing that he couldn't. Augustus looked down at his large, brown shoes. He was next.

Veruca ushered the gentle giant into the cramped space. His fear about what was about to happen was evident in his shaky hands and trembling legs. She sighed in dissatisfaction.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked, placing a hand on her hip. Slightly exasperated from her last interaction with Violet, she was quite impatient to get this over and done with. She had a good idea of what happened and who was the conspirator of the plot, but this would make sure that any other important details aren't missed. The faster this was done, the faster they can start planning. But for some reason, the tubby, German wouldn't let her in. It may have been unintentional because of his nervousness, but she was still irritated none the less.

"I-I just…not want this feeling." He said, stuttering. Not knowing how to describe the existential grief that he feels because he knows that he will eventually feel it within the next hour.

Veruca paused, her expression cold but her eyes went wide with understanding. Never has she heard what the process of memory recovering had been like and hearing all of the fear that stemmed from what Veruca made another see made her feel like she was a bad person. How had she not known that the process does that to some one? Surely, she could have heard or seen the memories in the other person's mind, maybe she wasn't paying attention and maybe…she could filter them out? That alone planted a seed of hope within the mind reader's soul. But she was brought back to the topic at hand by the crushing force of Augustus pulling her toward him with a hand grabbing the end of her dusty rose-colored dress. The dress ripped.

She shrieked essentially out of surprise. But then realized to what extent of fear that Augustus was experiencing. He didn't want to see it. He didn't want to feel it. All over again. To some level, she sympathized. But at the same time, she believed that she should. Both to gather the need information and to push him out of his rational phobia.

Augustus, on the edge of bawling, could not stop apologizing. In his blubbering mess, Veruca looked up at him and heard the sincerity and purpose in every word that was thought and said. His face turning a cherry red as he continued to ramble about how sorry he was for being strong and how he wished that he wasn't and how he'd understand if she hated him or wanted to hit him.

He's been hurt.

Veruca could tell.

If she was honest, she didn't really mind that her dress was ripped. She liked the look of it when it was shorter and the frayed edges. But Augustus thought that she would hate him because he ripped her dress? How shallow did these people think she really was? Oh well, she thought, attempting to think over the loud rambling in her head from Augustus. He helped me, I might as well help him. She put her delicate, manicured hands over his large, balled fists, carefully.

"I won't go that far back if you don't want me too. In fact, I'll just look at what I need too, so you don't have to experience anything you don't want too." Veruca whispered in a reassuring voice. His nervous expression softened slightly. He de-tensed and began taking deep, anxious breaths. "It's up to you what I see, you only need to show me what I need, which is not a lot." She said, somehow her posh accents clearing all his fearful thoughts like the sun peeking out from behind the clouds. Augustus lowered himself to the floor, taking his head in his hands again, still breathing quite heavily. He nodded to her, unable to speak because the clumps of panic were still lodged firmly in his throat. And with that Veruca dived into Augustus's mind.

A great flash of images, almost as if someone was running their thumb over a pile of pictures, greeted Veruca. They whirled around her, and inside her at the very same time. She could feel each one. Each image of a small, chubby Augustus with bruises gracing his face and each image of a stout, smiling woman. She felt tears well up in her eyes as images of the same blue suited men from Charlie's experience take hold of the woman and force her into a cement cave. They barred the cave and blue bouts of electricity zapped the beloved woman until her hair was burned black and her eye's red. The images twisted into more images of the woman holding her son's hand telling him that she'll be okay as more men came to restrain Augustus. They attached ridiculously heavy weights to his wrists and ankles, placing a mask over his face. The smoke filling his lungs so quickly that he gulped and gulped for air but there was none. Veruca was surprised at a sudden audio. A simple sentence echoed as Augustus's eyes closed and the memories became fuzzy, darkening threads entered her vision.

"What a greedy little piglet."

When Veruca woke up, her first priority was to leap onto Augustus before he came too. The super-strong's reaction to what she had just seen was what she truly feared because she knew if she had to relive that, that she'd be breaking bones.

Wait, was she safe?

Augustus screamed awake, his deep voice penetrated the sound barrier as cracks in the walls became more and more evident. Veruca latched her arms around his neck tightly, not realizing that she could have been cutting off his oxygen supply.

"MUTTER. MUTTER. MUTTER, PLEASE." He couldn't stop shaking. Fat tears full of pain leaked from his face. He gritted his teeth, grabbing fistfuls of his own hair, not taking notice to the pressure on his back. Veruca shushed him comfortingly, attempting to placate the poor boy but it seemed as if he wasn't aware of her efforts. A migraine throbbed in her head as she was thrown around by Augustus's shaking.

"Augustus! Augustus! I need you to calm down!" She shouted, but not loudly enough. "Please! Augustus!"

Augustus threw her off of his back. Not knowing that she was there.

She slammed into the wall. An explosion of pain erupted in her back and her head burned with what felt like fresh blood. Her vision blurred together in fuzzy spots of black.

The last thing she saw before she lost consciousness, was Augustus's face and then a lot of orange.

 **LonelyHipster666: Hey, its nice to hear from you again! I hope that you liked this chapter…I mean hate me because of my terrible angst because I'm sure that's what everyone else will be doing…Anyways, read anything creepy lately?**

 **Sonny April: I found it in a magazine that was covering Freddie Highmore's new show, The Good Doctor and it gave a spread of Freddie Highmore's previous works. It talked about the other actors too, it was pretty cool. Anyways, what do you think of the flashbacks?**

 **Dragonserpent19: I realize before I wrote all of this up that I had to plan the answer to the mystery and then build a bunch of clues and somehow incorporate them in the story, much like your stories-I learned from the best!**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993: My writers block did come back but I did write another story to help chase it away again…its another Charlet story and I wasn't sure if I should post it, but nevermind I wanted to know if you've written any stories that might interest me?**


	9. Chapter 9

The first thing that Charlie heard when he had exited the bathroom, with Violet in tow, was Augustus. It started out quietly. Quiet whimpers of leading in German. It could only be assumed that he was begging for Veruca to stop her reading. Suddenly, his cries became louder and louder. Mike was already outside of their door, prepared to stop the session for the sake of his friend. That is when he started to scream. Loud crashes erupted from within the door. The telekinetic nearly broke the door at the velocity he slammed the slab of steel open. Violet nipping at Mike's heels as she ran after him, into the room.

Charlie was horrified at the scene he found. The room was obliterated. The bricks that had previously been a wall had been reduced to rubble. The floors were cracked and what few furniture there was torn to splinters. Augustus stood in the middle of it all, eyes squeezed tightly closed as he continued to lash out at anything nearby. But what worried Charlie most was Veruca's crumpled body that lay limply, upright against a wall. A blood smear traced her journey from the middle of the wall to the floor. Her eyes closed, she remained unresponsive.

Violet erected a circle wall of flame to surround the panicking super strong. Trapped within such a small space and the smell of alcohol burning gradually began to calm Augustus. Mike leaned down to observe Veruca's condition. He propped her up against his arm. Charlie came to examine the damage-Violet gave him a pointy look as he walked past.

Mike noted the little cuts on her face and on her upper, right arm. He deduced that Veruca was conscious for the beginning of Augustus's unintentional attack as those were defensive wounds. She had raised her arm to protect her face from the flying bricks. Mike grazed his fingertips over Veruca's face, mentally listing the swollen places on her forehead and right cheek, where the bits of debris must have hit her. It wasn't until that he found a warm sticky patch on the back of her head did he share his information with Charlie.

"She was thrown against this wall here, that part was obvious. But we need to treat her wounds right away." He said, expressing some urgency in his usually apathetic tone. "She hit her head pretty badly." His voice softened a bit more. Charlie leaned down and took the mind-reader in his arms, carrying her out of the room.

Mike stood up and dusted the brick dust from his jeans and approached Violet, who still had Augustus trapped in a circle of fire. From what Mike could see through the flickering light and smoke, Augustus was on his hands and knees, breathing heavily. Gasping for air, he was so close to the floor that his nose was an inch from touching it. The spiky-haired boy put a hand on the arsonist's shoulder, silently willing her to bring down her wall. Violet lowered her arms in response and took a step back to watch the flames slowly start to die; leaving only Augustus in a black circle of where flames used to burn. The ginger did not look up, despite knowing that the other two in the room were watching him intently. Mike slowly walked towards the now trembling figure of Augustus. Once standing before him, he fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around large shoulders. That surprised Augustus into looking up at him.

"Must have been pretty bad, to get a reaction like that." Mike said, a bit muffled by the position of his face on Augustus's shoulder.

Augustus seemed confused. No one, and he knew no one, had ever reacted quite like that. They, most notably his father, had usually reacted with anger and violence against him for what he had accidentally destroyed. Even his mutter had never hugged him or tried to help him through the hurricane of emotions that he felt. The hurricanes that destroyed in the first place. And here was another person. A person that Augustus had originally thought was mean and jerkish. Who held him in his thin arms and tried to console him through his pain. Tears welled up in his eyes and he fought himself to restrain from taking the much shorter boy in his arms and hugging him back.

"Go ahead, big guy. I'll be okay." He said. At this point Augustus saw that Mike's body glowed with an aura of bright purple. Augustus didn't hesitate at this point. He wrapped his large, thick arms around Mike and squeezed him. Letting all of the tension that was built up inside of him be released through the hug. Never had he ever been able to hug another person like this. Never had he ever been able to even hug another person because of his lack of control over his strength. But here he was, hugging another person tightly, finally letting himself be free from his curse. The purplish aura began to creep slowly over Augustus as well. And despite the glow being very weird, in his opinion, he honestly couldn't care less. It was what enabled him to touch. It enabled him to hug. It enabled him to connect to another human being on a different level. Something he hasn't ever been able to do. So, Augustus was grateful for the purple aura. He was grateful for what it provided. He was grateful for the person who could provide.

Violet stood over them, observing their display. Internally scoffing at the sappiness but also silently wishing to be able to do the same. Without a word, she turned away and left the two in the room to have their moment. She closed the steel door with a very heavy sigh. As if she had been holding her breath in the entire time. Or perhaps she had been holding her feelings back, only to release them at the end of it all. But is wasn't the end, quite yet.

She approached the table that Veruca lay with care. Charlie was shuffling through cabinets in search of bandages. She looked down at the girl that was displayed before them. At the point where she was most vulnerable. Violet knew what it was like to be in that position and she hated it. She hated feeling vulnerable. She hated when there was nothing she could do, completely defenseless and hopeless, when the smiling faces came looming over her; ready to begin. Violet pounded the table. The sound startling Charlie. He was monkeying about, trying to find the medical supplies that he needed. In his hand was an unlabeled bottle the color of Pepto Bismal. She stomped over to him and swiped the bottle, cracking it open and wafting the smell of the chemicals into her face.

"That's calamine lotion. It won't do much for cuts or open wounds." She said, not meaning to come off cold. She tossed the bottle back to him and began to rustle through the cupboards.

Charlie couldn't help the small smile that appeared on his face. She honestly was adorable, no matter how much she tried to act tough. He quickly wiped the smile off of his face when Violet turned back to him. She tossed him a light blue bottle, gauze bandages, and a yellow tube. The small girl walked back around the table. Charlie watched as she carefully turned Veruca's head so she could get a better view of the wound, checking for bit of debris that need to be removed. She held out her hand for something, not looking up. Charlie didn't know what she was doing that for. After about half a second he realized that he was supposed to hand her something. But what? He fumbled with the things in his arms. He dropped the yellow tube into Violet's hand. She looked up at him. He gulped. Wrong thing. He blushed.

"Could you hand me the bottle? That's the sanitizing alcohol. I kind of need to clean it before it wrapped it." She said, smiling a bit. Charlie nearly melted on the spot, from a combination of embarrassment and not being able to handle Violet smiling. He tripped over his hands to give her the blue bottle. Their hands accidentally made contact. Violet pulled away, hissing in pain, clutching the now blue hand. She still had the bottle though, and after a few seconds she continued to treat Veruca's wounds. Charlie smiled apologetically.

"Sorry." He said, more than a little bit sheepish and guilty. Violet didn't even spare him a glance.

"It's not a big deal." She mumbled, continuing her work on Veruca. She opened the bottle, pouring some of its contents on a bit of gauze. The pyro then placed the gauze to the wound, removing bits of grime and dried blood from the wound. She then looked around confusedly, having her mind set on finding something but not knowing where to start. Her face brightened and she run to the cupboard again to grab one of the rubber bands that held the strips of gauze in a large pile of white cotton. Once the band was secured, she pulled all of Veruca's hair away from the wound and tied it into a neat ponytail. Violet then opened her hand, again. "The ointment, please." Charlie once again tried to carefully hand her the tube, hoping to avoid accidentally touching her again. He ended up having the ointment tube snatched from his hand, her fingertips brushing his palm. She winced slightly as she went back to work. Twisting the top off of the ointment, she squeezed a bit onto her fingertip and gently spread the antibiotic over the wound, which already seemed to look better from the cleaning. She held her hand out one last time. Charlie placed the gauze carefully into her open palm. She turned it to the side, to cover the wound better and taped it down with the gauze tape she had grabbed from the cupboard herself. She then turned Veruca's the other side. "The wound needs to bleed, otherwise the blood that wasn't able to escape the system as a result of the injury will clot inside of her head. And that's not fun." She said, dusting her hands off and turning to Charlie. Her hands placed on her hips and a satisfied smirk graced her face, obviously she was proud of her work.

"That was amazing. Where did you learn to do that?" Charlie asked, honestly taken aback by the skill that she had in caring for wounds. Neither his mother or his father had been able to do what she had done with such finesse. Violet blushed a bit. Her face turning a bright pinkish-red color.

"Umm, fights…and other stuff." She muttered, not willing to look at Charlie directly because of her embarrassment of his praise. "But I did do a pretty good job, didn't I?" She stood up a little straighter, sounding prideful and a touch arrogant. Charlie thought it was cute.

"Are you two done? I honestly think I'm going to collapse from all of the sexual tension that is in the room right now."

The two, conscious subject turned towards the sound of the voice. Mike came trudging in, Augustus right behind him, looking incredibly drained. Violet snapped back at Mike's playful banter, while Charlie was startled and turning redder by the second.

"You have the balls to talk to me about sexual tension? At least I wasn't all over poor Augustus, here. Clearly you guys were having a gay thing going on so I thought that I'd leave you alone and look where that left me; two exhausted looking boys. Honestly, what did you guys do after I left?" She cameback, crossing her arms and smirking in retaliation. Mike opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again. He looked away from Violet and derailed the conversation.

"How is she doing?" He asked, observing Violet's handy work. Violet uncrossed her arms and approached the table, standing next to him.

"She'll be fine, she just needs to bleed a bit, to get the infected blood out of her system. She should wake up soon." Violet said calmly, tracing the square of gauze with her finger. Mike looked at Violet with sad eyes as he noticed that her spirit almost immediately dissipate. He felt annoyance (and sympathy) bubble inside of him at her change in attitude. Mike always thought it was ridiculous for people to blame themselves for something bad happening-when the real culprit was fate.

"It wasn't your fault, god, you're so annoying." He muttered.

"What did you say? I couldn't quite hear you." She said, her tone sharp and dry. It was as if she was preparing to cut into him if he had insulted her. Mike felt a spasm of panic take over him, willing his mouth to stay shut in fear of the bull crap that would inevitably spill out. His mouth didn't listen.

"I, um, just wanted to say sorry." He said turning to her, willing a soft expression on his face, as to not anger her further. Violet looked at him with an interesting expression. It was as if she was agitated but also perplexed. Her gaze sharpened and isolated on Mike. He felt a shiver come over him. "You know, uh, before when I spazzed out…and…hurt…you…" He wasn't sure how to end that, especially when he realized that he should be feeling sorry. Here was a person who had been through enough and he had added the straw that broke the horses back. She exploded. And was hurt even more. Why did he even bring this up! Ugh! That was so stupid! Curse his mouth. Her brows furrowed and she immediately looked away. He could tell that her face was turning red.

"I already said that I overreacted, so there's no reason to say sorry."

"Then why do you blame yourself for someone else's reaction? Why do you feel like the need to be sorry? Isn't that kind of what happened?" Mike, once again damned his mouth to hell. What was he doing! He heard a sniffle.

Oh god damnit.

Veruca opened her eyes.

She was surrounded by crystals.

The most beautiful crystals in the world, in her opinion. The way they glimmered those beautiful hues of the rainbow fascinated her. She could watch them for hours on end; just sparkling in the light.

Until they fell.

The glass was everywhere. It was like a giant animal coming to tear her apart with its sharp, rainbow teeth. She ran, but it wasn't enough.

It swallowed her whole. It transported her.

 **I'm really sorry for not updating sooner. I went through a lapse in depression, and it was extremely difficult to do anything without falling apart. I thought I was okay but I started to waste away piece by piece until all that was left was the bad parts. It took a lot to write up this chapter for you guys. I know that I suck at being an author but for those who are still reading I am really sorry for not updating in a month. I promise that I'll try to be better.**

 **Joy Kathlyn: Thank you so much for your support. Believe it or not, it really means a lot to me. I look to the reviews to brighten up a crappy day, so you more or less made me a happier person**

 **Sonny April: We have one more backstory…its not as depressing as the other ones-but it is super important because it gives more information about the person that Veruca keeps seeing (I really don't like saying the name right out, for the people who didn't catch on)**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993: I did read No Escape. I thought that was really good. I'm currently working on a collab with dragonserpent. Thank you for your continued support, I am always really happy to see a continued commenter. It's like a conversation!**

 **Guest: Thank you for the compliment! Your review was one of the ones that made me want to move my ass and work harder to give you another decent chapter**


	10. Chapter 10

**Finding out that chewing gum can help with self-harming habits such as cutting and anorexia or bulimia and the fact that this can lead to compulsive chewing behavior.**

 **People: Huh, that's weird**

 **Me, an intellectual: *throws a chair and screams at the top of lungs* SHE'S NOT OKAY**

The place was much different from a teenager's eyes than it was from a child's. To her when she was eight it looked like the most beautiful and amazing thing in the entire universe. To her now. It was gaudy and way too pink. Well, that's what you get, Veruca thought reminding herself that pink was her signature color and well she was little, the bigger was the better.

In her childhood bedroom, the mind-reader lamented over her lost innocence. This was her favorite place in the world because this was where she was safe from other peoples' thoughts. She carefully lowered herself to the plush carpet, the soft strands brushing in between her fingers. This was the place where she hid from her father when he tried to bring her to board meetings and find spies and traitors within the company. She hated hearing such hateful and dirty thoughts within her head so she always did her best to avoid the other business men that her daddy associated with. Now, it seemed like she heard them on a daily basis. From the strangers on the street, to the men that her father shook hands with, to her father, himself-all Veruca could hear were the disturbing thoughts that contorted her naivety into a tragic adultness at a young age. Veruca sighed.

Suddenly, she heard a knock on her flowery pink door. A smooth, deep voice muffled through the wood addressed her.

"Veruca, sweetie, we need you in the 3rd dining room. Come down at once, if you would please." Her father simply stated, awaiting her reply.

"No! I don't want to talk to people without opening my mouth anymore! It's boring! And the men are creepy!" The voice coming out of her mouth was higher pitched and whiny. Veruca internally cringed at her own voice when she was little.

"Veruca. We need your ability to help the company, there is no other way. You must for the good our family."

Veruca felts the feelings of guilt and responsibility well up inside of her. She stood up and opened the door to face her father.

He loomed over her, his height exaggerated from the smaller her perspective. His long, dark face had prickly, dark hairs around his mouth and chin. His salt and pepper hair was pushed to the side of his face. And his stiff suit gave him the appearance of a funeral owner. If Veruca didn't know better, she would have thought this the corpse of a man that came to eat her brains.

She refused to let him intimidate her however, as this was the next thing out of her lips.

"I want a pony." She said, before walking away. Veruca congratulated her younger self for her tenacity. No wonder she's so stubborn in the future. Giddiness bubbled inside her as to her younger self this was the first time standing up to her father like this. And she definitely planed on doing it much, much more. Her father knew that if he wanted something out of her, he will have to pay the price. And today's price was a beautiful, white midget horse.

As she descended the stairs she could hear hushed voices whispering inside of her head. They weren't loud but words she could catch didn't sound good. Words like 'experiment' and 'subject' and 'spoiled brat' were very clear and very loud in her head, compared to the rest of the sentence. Veruca placed her hand on the railing, as a means of support for herself. She could hear her father's footsteps behind her, slapping against the white stair case. At the bottom of the stair case, Veruca saw the guests in the 3rd Dining room. The white stair case turned into a tainted gray color.

The man was there. The creepy man with the page-boy haircut and the gaunt, angular face. He looked exactly the same in all of the memories despite the differences in time. His tall, dark purple top hat dipped a bit over his face, shadowing one of his bright purple eyes. He was smiling excitedly talking to his much smaller companions. These were the men in the blue suits. Finally able to get a good look at them, Veruca noticed that they were small in stature and had dark skin and a weird gelled haircut. The strangest thing about them though, was that all five of them looked exactly the same.

"Can you hear me."

Veruca looked around, she heard someone talking to her but no one was looking at her.

"I know what you can do."

With that sentence she knew what was going on.

The man was talking to her with his mind, she wouldn't be able to respond to him, but she was sure that he knew that he was getting his message across. His message was that he knew who she was and he was definitely going to do something about it. That scared Veruca so much that her hair stood on end, statically. The man, done talking to his companions turned to her, staring straight into her soul.

"Well, aren't you going to answer me?"

Her father placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Veruca, this is Mr. William Wonka. He wants to form a joint business with our nut company." Mr. Salt explained haughtily, proud of himself and his business as it interested someone enough for a joint company offer,

Veruca shook like a leaf under his gaze. Guess that would make him the wind then, Veruca thought to herself-realizing that everyone was expecting her to respond to the introduction. She attempted to collect herself. She took a deep breath and tried to stop her white-tight clad knees from knocking,

"My name is Veruca Salt. It is a pleasure to meet you." Veruca said, curtsying to him with her head bowed. Her heart was beating so fast. It felt like her heart was expanding inside of her chest and it was incredibly painful. She took another breath and forced her head upward to give the crazy person in front of her a toothpaste-commercial smile.

"That's right little girl. You should be scared. Everything you know isn't real. I'll show you what is real, you, spoiled brat."

Charlie thought that it was a bit strange when Violet started prodding his arm randomly. She ran her palm down the side and he finally decided to ask, ignoring the chills that resulting in the indirect touch from the girl.

"Um, what are you doing?" He managed to ask. His only reply was a humph sound from her before she flopped unto his arm. He jumped a bit at the sudden contant and weight under his left arm but quickly was able to relax at the warm that ensued. Oh. Charlie thought. She was checking to she if she could touch him if it wasn't skin to skin contact. She wanted some place to lay down. Which was understandable seeing as they had no idea what time it was. Whether it was day or night was a complete mystery to them. So Charlie could imagine that everyone here was pretty tired and hungry. Charlie couldn't help an easy smile come to his face. He looked down at the girl resting on his arm.

She was dozing peacefully, her eyes closed and her face relaxed. It was a surprising and beautiful sight all in one. A voice cut through the loving haze in Charlie's mind.

"Why are you laying on him if you could get frosted? Honestly, that's a pretty stupid decision And what about poor Charlie? What if he needs to use his arm?" Mike asked grumpy, the bags under his eyes weighing him down as he slumped, his armed crossed.

"He has the other one." Violet replied groggily, leaving her yawn uncovered.

"You're so selfish." Mike said, taking a seat next to the two of them, chuckling a bit at Violet's antics until she flopped onto him-to which e responding with a perfectly manly cry of protest.

As Charlie was thinking of how much he missed the weight on his arm and the warmth that it provided he noticed that Veruca's breathing had picked up. Her breaths were now very shallow and raspy.

He stood up abruptly, enough to make him dizzy and he ran to her bedside, knowing, just knowing that she was waking up. That still didn't prepare him from getting bonked in the head from Veruca sitting up immediately out of her coma.

"I know who he is!"

 **Sorry I haven't updated in so long, things at school are starting to pick up and you know…I'm kinda relapsing, but I promise that I'll try to update at least once or twice a month**

 **Joy Kathlyn: I think I just might make all of the ships in the fanfiction optional, seeing as then certain people prefer a ship over the other, and sometimes stop reading because it wasn't their ship-but their will be plenty of moments for you to fangirl over *pinky promise* I promise**

 **Dragonserpent18: I was wondering if someone would ask me about the powers because I do have specific reasons for giving certain people certain powers. I gave Augustus super strength not just because of his size but also because of his shy disposition and people have a soft spot for big, strong guys who are actually just giant teddy bears. I gave Veruca mind-reading because the original intention was for her to also develop an ability to make people do what she wants them too, but I thought that it would make her character more snarky and dynamic if she was just a mind-reader. I gave Violet fire powers because of her temper and warm color-based features-She's incredibly fun to write. I had a hard time deciding who would have ice powers and who would have telekinesis, Charlie originally would have had telekinesis but I switched last minute.**

 **LinkWonka88: Thank you so much for your support, your comment honestly made me cry. You see, I don't see myself as that good of a writer compared to other people but I love receiving praise which is why I post things on various websites. It really is people like you that are a light in the darkness for me**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993: I'm glad that you are such an avid follower of my work, it's nice to have at least a couple of fans to a random puzzle piece story like this one. To answer your questions (the ones without spoilers) Veruca was transported into her subconscious, meaning that the memories that made a lasting impact are embedded there-this should be the last flashback before they start planning their escape, there is one more important detail I need to get across before that happens.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Did you guys know that Freddie Highmore, Charlie, can play recorders with his nose? He's pretty good too. It's hilarious**

"Ugh!"

Veruca struggled with the rubber band in her hair. It's sticky nature of it made it cling to the fine strands of ash brown. She sat atop of the medical table with the group of four surrounding her. They waited with bated breath for her explanation even though it was unanimously agreed that it would be best for Veruca not to push herself too much.

"Who thought it was a good idea to tie hair with a rubber band?!" She cried one last time in discomfort after having successfully ripped the band and several hairs out of her head. Charlie side-glanced to Violet. Violet avoided his gaze. Veruca threw her legs over the side of the table, and crossed one over the other. She nervously pulled down her skirt and cleared her throat. "Remember the man I talked about seeing in each of our memories?" She asked, her eyes darting between the company.

"The one with the purple eyes, right?" Mike clarified, his hand open with a gesture. It was incredibly subtle, but Mike's aura changed. It went from calm and waiting to irritated, underneath all of the frustration, a touch of fear. Augustus made a growling noise next to him. Mike took it upon himself to comfortingly rub his back. He knows what it's like to be angry and not have any way to outlet it.

"He took my mutter." The giant concluded, clenching his fists despite the telekinetic's efforts to pacify him. Violet gave both of them a look that could impale a person with its point. It wasn't very effective however. " I crush his head, ja?" Veruca blinked at him.

"Uh, ja." She said, mostly just to prevent him from throwing her across the room again. "Well, I noticed that he, in all of our memories seemed to have a lot of knowledge about us. Our family situations, our strengths, our weaknesses, things we didn't know about ourselves…he knew."

"You think that he's been tracking us?" Violet inquired, her arms crossed, a bit skeptical. If someone was tracking her, she'd be the first to realize it. Wouldn't she?

"Exactly!" Veruca exclaimed, she hopped down from the table and made her way across the room. "Just look where we are! We were each given individual room that are full of the things that belong to us! Where could he have gotten these things if he didn't know where we lived?" She gestured to boxes, that the group had just noticed were in the room. She opened one of them to show that they were full of collared shirts and sweat suits. "And provided some for those that didn't have any. How could he have known what we wore if he didn't have eyes on us, from the very beginning?!" She stood up again and walked back to the group. "He placed items and us in certain rooms that he knew would cause conflict. He knew that Violet and I wouldn't get along, so he planted something that would cause contention. He placed Mike in the farthest room from us to isolate him and make him feel even more estranged." Mike nervously rubbed his arm at that last one. Violet didn't enjoy being mentioned either. "How could he have known about all of this if he didn't plant some bugs on us early on! I've seen him when I was little, he must have known where every one else was, right?"

"That's a good theory, but what how does that help us escape?" Charlie spoke for the first time since this exchange. He became very pensive over the past few minutes, contemplating the usefulness of the information. Was the memory process really worth it if it didn't provide anything useable.

"Well, if we think about this rationally," Veruca started, ushering the group closer, "He knows all about us. Including what we can do. So, we are just going to have to do something that he doesn't expect from us." Her face visibly brightened. "Like teaming up!"

"What?"

"If we teamed up! You know, like combine our powers or something, then maybe we can get through the walls!

"So, let me get this straight," Mike stepped forward, and explained his piece. "You want a giant, clumsy super strong to somehow control his powers enough to work with the rest of us. You want a push-over, goody-goody ice boy to somehow work with the temperamental, loud-mouth fire girl without hurting each other. You want me to find something my powers don't just destroy and make a mess of things. Yeah." Mike dropped his hands to his sides, in a sign of hopelessness. "Good luck with that."

With those few statements, Mike managed to bring down the entire team's morale. Augustus stared at the cement, his shoulders drooped and his expression dark. Charlie, in contrast, looked up at the ceiling, hiding his frostbitten hands in the crooks of his crossed arms. Ice shinked off of him in small pieces of anxiety. Violet didn't dare to make eye contact with anyone or anything for too long. Her expression lost, as if she was searching for something that was important, but couldn't find it.

Veruca sighed, and took Mike's hands in her own. This forced their eyes to meet.

"I'm asking the kind-hearted super strong to work with us in controlling his powers so he doesn't hurt anyone because he can be something more than just a super strong."

Augustus looked up from the ground, and smiled a bit. He liked the idea that he could be something more than his label. He wanted to be a person, just like everyone else.

"I am asking the gentle, soft-spoken ice boy to control his emotions because he can be better. He knows he can because he's probably the nicest one of us all. And the one with the most control over his powers."

Charlie blushed at the praise, no longer looking as though he were about to shatter into a thousand pieces. He was glad that someone could see that his kindness was not weakness. He wanted to be a person, just like everyone else.

"I'm asking the passionate, determined fire girl to realize that her mistakes were simply that. Mistakes, because she is human and she is allowed to mess up. She can do anything she wants because she has the great abilities aside from her powers."

Violet smiled a bit, tears welling up in her eyes. No matter how hard she tried, she will never be able to get over what she had done in the past. But that didn't mean that she didn't have a future. She wanted to be a person, just like everyone else.

"And I want you, the strong, intelligent telekinetic to see that there are people here for him. People that will protect him when he's in danger. People that will boost him up when he is down. People that believe in him and what he can do. We believe in you Mike, and we believe that you can do this."

Mike stared deeply into Veruca's eyes, searching for any sign of a lie. Having found none, he collapsed onto the taller, enveloping her into a hug.

"I believe that we have the ability to escape this godforsaken place, but I know that we need to work together to do it." The mind reader said softly to the group, carful with the person in her arms. A mixture of growling noises erupted from the group's stomachs. Veruca blushed with embarrassment. "Maybe we should get something to eat first."

 **Artistgril16: Thank you so much for telling about the glitch. I have no idea what happened to the chapter it seriously just exploded in my face. It was like, oh you're not good with technology? Too bad! Bleh!**

 **LonelyHipster666: I have read the Maximum Ride series, and I have to say that I never thought of the story like that…huh. You could always email me fanart, just PM me your email or I can PM you mine. Its just that I love other people's art so I'd like to see how you would draw the characters**

 **Dragonserpent18: Okay, I think I know the answer to the riddle: is it a word? Also, I love writing a sweet, fluffy Violet. Because I honestly think that what she is at heart. Just a giant ball of fluff with a tough exterior**

 **The Illinaughty Pine Tree: First off, I love your name. Second, thank you for your support. I've read your stories and I have to say that I love your writing style. I'm excited to see who's family issues you address next…if you are planning on writing again, I don't know.**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993: The puzzle is actually still missing a few pieces, but it is closer to being whole. And to answer your question, I think my plans for them after all of this is to stay in contact, maybe form a superhero, vigilante group. Kinda like Guardians of the Galaxy I guess.**

 **THANKS FOR READING! And I'll see you next month!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Augustus: *About to leave the room***

 **Mike: Hold the fuck up!**

 **Augustus: *stops* Excuse me?**

 **Mike: I said the 'hold the fuck up'. I'm the fuck up. Hold me.**

"Okay, try it one more time!" Veruca cried from the other side of the room.

In the room, all five of them stood. Augustus was panting heavily, positioned on the farthest side of the room where a trail of ice led up to him. The other three stood off to the side, so that they may do their job properly. The room itself seemed to be wrecked to pieces. Scorch marks graced the walls in some places while it crumpled in others. The debris whirled around the room in a massive hurricane. The wind whipped around the group. This was what they could do together.

Augustus took a running position and let out a grand cry before started to charge toward the giant steel door that connected all of the rooms. He slipped on the ice, losing friction and went barreling toward the door. About half way down, Mike's eyes began to glow. He encased the red and white striped ball that was Augustus in a purple light which then enabled Violet to then light him up. The flaming purple mass continued to pick up speed until it finally collided with the door in a thunderous crash, shaking the walls of the room. Dust fell from the ceiling. The floor cracked underneath the door. But the door remained standing, dented but still standing.

Veruca groaned in exasperation. This was the seventh time that they attempted this trick. IT wasn't that it wasn't powerful, because it was plenty. The problem was it seemed that that door didn't respond to anything. Strength, extreme heat, extreme cold. Nothing. It was incredibly frustrating because it seemed that that was all they could do.

Augustus rose to his feet, panting. Sweat dripped down his freckled face and he wiped it away with the back of his large hand. The other three also needed to catch their breath as they have been working at this for hours and they were not used to using their powers for prolonged periods of time. Mike swayed on his feet, looking as though he were about to lose consciousness. Violet had her hands on her knees, her vision swimming with spots. Charlies coughed long and hard, the phlegmy rattled in his chest. Veruca was the only one who was okay in this moment.

"Okay, so it seems that this approach doesn't seem to be working," Veruca rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "What if instead we had Charlie freeze the hinges and had Augustus pound them until they shatter? No, they would expect that…What if we…no, We could! Oh yeah we could!" She said excitedly before getting cut off by a very tired Mike.

"Veruca. Listen, as much as we want to keep overusing our powers to the point we can't anymore. We can't get very far unless we take a break. So, Ms. Boss can we, your loyal lackeys, take a break." He snapped, his tone so sharp, Veruca thought she could cut herself on it. Her eyebrows furrowed.

"The only way we going to be able to escape is if we keep working at it. Look! We've done a lot of damage to that door! Just a little more and we'll be able to cave it in and leave!" The rich girl bit back. She didn't like how Mike was treating her right now and she'd be the daughter of a dog if she was going to roll over and let him treat her like that.

"Veruca, I think it's be a really good idea if we just rested for a bit, okay? That way we can collect ourselves and regain our strength. Wouldn't that be good?" This time it was Charlie that was arguing with her. She honestly thought that they were stronger than this, why were they demanding a break when they were this close to breaking through. Even Violet looked up at her, refusing to verbally give in, but the look in her eyes begged for a break. Maybe it was really hard to have powers like theirs, Veruca thought off-handedly. "You know we aren't machines."

"Can't you see! We are so close! Why are you guys giving up now?!" Veruca cried breathlessly. She knew that she was overusing their powers but she also knew that they could escape by overusing them. Which was more important?

"Well, no duh, we're close." Mike replied dryly, slumping over and crossing his arms. At this point he could barely keep his eyes open. Stress began to build up inside of him and it was beginning to show as he began to take short, hollow breaths. Hyperventilation was only one step away. Before Veruca could step in to help calm him down, Violet was by his side, telling him to try to take deep breaths to even his breathing. Her presence calmed him down; she rubbed soothing circles on his back. "B-but overworking obviously isn't the answer!" He exclaimed quietly, as if he went without breathing for a long time.

Veruca couldn't believe it. They were making her the bad guy! This was exactly what they wanted. To separate them into two groups. The good guys and the bad guys. This was not what Veruca wanted.

"Listen, we have to stick together right now. We can't argue over something as trivial as this!"

"It's not trivial!"

Violet shouted at her with all of her voice. In fact, she spent the next minute panting, searching for her voice again. "It's not trivial if it hurts us more than it helps us! We are sticking together! You're the only one here who doesn't agree and maybe that's because you haven't been working half as hard as we have. So, get over yourself and let us take a break, god damn it!" Mike hauled her arm around his shoulders to prevent her from collapsing. Charlie took the other side, making sure to avoid touching her directly.

Then something inside of Veruca's head clicked. Hot plus cold equals explosion. It was a classic case of temperature syndrome. If Charlie and Violet made enough contact suddenly, then there would be an explosion big enough to knock the door off its hinges. A wide smile broke out onto her face.

Needless to say, this startled the rest of them. Who smiles when they're being yelled at?

"That's it! That it! Can't you see." She took a step back and pointed to Violet. "Hot." Then at Charlie. "Plus Cold."

"Equals explosion!" Mike finished for her, a new light glimmering in his eyes. Suddenly his tiredness fell away and he stood up straighter. "The molecules in the two different temperatures move at two different paces. So, when the cold suddenly makes contact with the hot, the molecules are constantly pushing up and down against each other. Meaning that the contact between the oxygen and the nitrogen in the air is unstable and reacts aggressively!" Mike said, explaining with a newfound excitement. Veruca stifled a laugh at his enthusiasm over something as little as a molecular reaction.

"Okay, could you explain that a bit slower please?" Charlie asked meekly, knowing that somehow, he was part of the scheme that Mike and Veruca were concocting.

Mike turned to him, a bright smile on his face and Charlie couldn't help but smile back. It was rare to see Mike smile like he was now, so Charlie will enjoy it while he can. "We are going to have you and Violet make sudden contact. It will cause an explosion hopefully large enough to cave that door in or something. I don't know! I just want to see the science!"

Charlie nodded. And then choked.

"You want me to do what?!" Both he and Violet cried at the same time. Apparently, she didn't want to do this either. Huh, what a big surprise. They separated and moved to different sides of the room.

"I know that it's going to be hard but I think you can do it and it is for the betterment of all of us. Just keep that in mind, okay?" Veruca inched towards Violet. Mike nodded to Augustus and Augustus sighed.

"Sorry, mien friend." The gentle giant moved towards Charlie.

"No! No! I don't want to hurt her! You guys know that this will hurt her, why are you going through with it?! I thought you said we need to stick together!"

"There is no way in hell that I'm touching him just so you guys can see if it creates a little spark! It probably won't even work! You can't force me to do something I don't want too!"

As the two pushed the arsonist and the ice-boy closer together, Mike bounced on his heels, balling his fists. Ready to witness science in action.

"It's going to have to be something electric, something with a lot of passion!" Mike stated, as if he was stating the obvious.

Veruca smiled devilishly.

"Like a kiss?" She said, looking down at the girl she was pushing around. Violet looked up at her with a shocked expression, a pink flush spreading to her face and her ears. Veruca laughed at the how dare you that came running through her head at that exact moment.

Charlie started to tremble, little pieces of ice trailed behind him as he and Violet got closer and closer. A kiss? A kiss?! He was no Prince Charming, but he could tell that a kiss was not going to fix all of their problems.

Then, they were right in front of each other. Staring into each other's eyes like their life depended on it.

Violet knew that this definitely was going to hurt, but if it meant getting out then it would be worth it. The only problem she was having with it was the fact that it was going to have to be a kiss that makes the explosion. She's never touched anyone like that in her life! And know, all of a sudden, her so-called friends want her to kiss someone-not just anyone but Charlie, of all people-what jerks!

Charlie was having an internalized panic attack. He's about to kiss her. He's about to kiss her. He's. About. To. Kiss. Her. He was going to die before he gets there, however with the look that Violet is giving him.

Veruca, Mike and Augustus watched with bated breath.

"I'm sorry!" Charlie screamed quietly, as quiet as a scream could be. Violet rolled her eyes, her face still the color of a ripe peach. She slowly moved toward him, her lips puckered. Charlie leaned down, to meet her in the middle. Their lips made contact.

And then the ceiling fell.

 **Mike is really cute in this chapter. I love him so much.**

 **The Illuminaughty Pine Tree: I can't wait for Violet's chapter! I've really wanted to see what is going to happen considering her background. I'm not trying to pressure you to write (I hate it when people do that) but I really am excited to see it. What did you think of the chapter? Who is your favorite so far?**

 **LonelyHipster666: I hate this stupid glitch, goodness gracious. I am going to stab someone! Hopefully, with a different wifi, it will stop. Also, concerning the fanart, its okay. I just get really excited when people think my story is good enough to draw for.**

 **JOHNHAMMOND1993: Guardians of the Galaxy is such a good movie. I did kind of want the escape scene to be a little less planned though because rather than having knowledge about the facility they are in, they got thrown in there with no idea where they are and why they are there. The escape plan was one of those things that I really had to think out. Like I came up with seven drafts for escape plans and most of them would fail so I got stuck writing a romance scene for an escape plan. Mr. Wonka is going to come in later while they are escaping-which is an very important detail to note if you are putting pieces together.**

 **Zedd00: Mike seems to be a fan favorite…I love him too. He's so fun to write for because of his bipolar personality. One minute he will be dark and brooding and then the next, soft and sweet. Did you like him this chapter? Also, there is going to be plenty of angst. Trust me. *attempts to wink* And Violet is a fluffy character, I love her so much. I love all of my babies so much. Thank you for reviewing. If you noticed not a lot of people review, and it makes me sad. Like no one really likes the story anymore. Yeah, it makes me sad.**


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